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About This GigapanToggle
- Taken by
- John De Carteret
- Explore score
- 1.17 Gigapixels
- Date added
- Jun 26, 2010
- Date taken
- Jun 25, 2010
The Écréhous (or Les Écréhous; in Jèrriais: Êcrého) are a groups of islands and rocks situated six miles north-east of Jersey (eight miles from France). They form part of the Bailiwick of Jersey and are administratively part of the Parish of St. Martin.
The most significant islets in the group are, Maîtr'Île, La Marmotchiéthe ('La Marmotière' in gallicized form), Lé Bliantch'Île (La Blanche Île in gallicized form).
All but these three largest are submerged at high tide.
There are no permanent residents on the islands and there is no fresh water there.
Due to erosion, they are now much smaller than they may have been during historic times.
Maîtr'Île is the largest of the islets and measures approximately 300 metres in length.
There are a small number of fishermen's huts, mostly now converted to holiday residences, on the largest islets, and one official building, a H M Customs House, on La Marmotchiéthe.
The name 'Ecréhous' is Norse in origin. "Esker" as in Skerry meaing a stony bank and 'Hou', the first part of the name appears to be traced back to the Norse word sker, meaning reef.
In the 17th century the Écréhous were used by smugglers.
Though they are now only inhabited sporadically by holidaymakers and fishermen, in the past there have been more permanent residents on Les Ecréhous due to more abundant vegetation. Two eccentrics who lived on the Ecréhous for a long time proclaimed themselves to be Le Roi des Ecréhous (The King of the Ecréhous) and unsuccessfully claimed sovereignty over the islands.
In 1950 Britain and France went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for friendly discussions to decide to which country the Écréhous (and the Minquiers reef, 9 miles south of Jersey) belonged. The French fished in the waters, but Jersey exercised various administrative rights. Although certain maps showed the Ecréhous islands as not being part of Jersey. The ICJ considered the historical evidence, and in its Judgment of 17 November 1953 awarded the islands to Jersey.
In 1993 and again in 1994, French 'invaders' from mainland Normandy landed on the Ecréhous and raised Norman flags. This was done partly in protest against Channel Island fishing regulations and partly because they wanted the Ecréhous to be recognised as part of France.
The 1994 'invasion' was monitored closely by officers from the both the States of Jersey Police and the Honorary Police of Jersey, and the Union Flag (that had been pulled down during the 1993 'invasion') was guarded by Police Officers.
In the end, after only minor trouble being caused, the French 'invaders", had lunch on the islands, before going back home, a priest who was part of the expedition said mass on the islands for the first time since the ruined Church and Priory on La Maîtr'Île had fallen into ruins (several hundred of years) and he created an outline of a church and altar using vraic (seaweed) which he collected from the sea.
Where in the World is this GigaPan?Toggle
GigaPan Stitch version 1.0.0804 (Macintosh)
Panorama size: 1173 megapixels (179808 x 6524 pixels)
Input images: 750 (125 columns by 6 rows)
Field of view: 360.0 degrees wide by 13.1 degrees high (top=2.7, bottom=-10.4)
All default settings
Original image properties:
Camera make: Canon
Camera model: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS
Image size: 1824x1368 (2.5 megapixels)
Capture time: 2010-06-25 10:47:39 - 2010-06-25 11:33:47
Exposure time: 0.001
Focal length (35mm equiv.): 1130.3 mm
Digital zoom: off
White balance: Fixed
Exposure mode: Manual
Horizontal overlap: 17.3 to 26.0 percent
Vertical overlap: 28.5 to 52.3 percent
Computer stats: 3072 MB RAM, 2 CPUs
Total time 4:18:58 (21 seconds per picture)
Alignment: 3:57:25, Projection: 1:26, Blending: 20:07
(Preview finished in 4:01:40)