In this paper, we prove that the modular curve $X(11)$ over a field of characteristic 3 admits the Mathieu group $M_{11}$ as an automorphism group. We also examine some aspects of the geometry of the curve $X(11)$ in characteristic 3. In particular, we show that every point of the curve is a point of inflection, the curve has 110 hyperflexes and there are no inflectional triangles and 11232 inflectional pentagons, of which 144 are self-conjugate. The hyperflexes correspond to the supersingular elliptic curves. We comment on the relationship of Ward's quadrilinear invariant for $M_{12}$ to our work and announce for the first time the equations for Klein's A-curve of level 11. We also comment on the relation of our work to some unpublished work of Bott and Tate.

1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 11F32, 11G20, 14G10, 14H10, 14N10, 20B25, 20C34.