Bekas Rock ( bg, скала Бекас, ‘Skala Bekas’ \ska-'la be-'kas\) is the 140 m long in southwest-northeast direction and 60 m wide rock lying west of
Rugged Island on the west side of
Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...
in the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...
,
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
. The area was visited by early 19th century
sealers Sealer may refer either to a person or ship engaged in seal hunting, or to a sealant; associated terms include:
Seal hunting
* Sealer Hill, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
* Sealers' Oven, bread oven of mud and stone built by sealers around 180 ...
.
The rock is “named after the ocean
fishing trawler ''Bekas'' of the Bulgarian company
Ocean Fisheries – Burgas
Ocean Fisheries – Burgas Co was a Bulgarian company founded in 1964 and based in the Black Sea port city of Burgas, whose ocean fishing trawler, trawlers and factory ship, freezer vessels undertook fishing voyages in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, ...
whose ships operated in the waters of
South Georgia
South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east ...
,
Kerguelen, the
South Orkney Islands
The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula[South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...]
and
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...
from 1970 to the early 1990s. The Bulgarian fishermen, along with those of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
are the pioneers of modern Antarctic
fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including ...
.”
Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
/ref>
Location
Bekas Rock is located at , which is 2.63 km southwest of Cape Sheffield
Cape Sheffield is a cape forming the northwest extremity of Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It was named for Captain James P. Sheffield, Master of the brig ''Hersilia'' of Stonington, Connecticut, in 1819–20 and 1820 ...
, 1.95 km west by south of Ugain Point
Ugain Point ( bg, нос Угаин, ‘Nos Ugain’ \'nos u-ga-'in\) is the point on the west coast of Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica separating Smyadovo Cove to the north and Bogomil Cove to the south. Situated 1.76&n ...
, 2.73 km northwest of Benson Point
Benson Point is the ice-free headland forming the southwest extremity of Rugged Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is a northwest entrance point for Morton Strait. The area was known to early 19th century sealers.
The feature ...
and 4.5 km southeast of the larger of the two Eddystone Rocks
The Eddystone or Eddystone Rocks are a seaswept and eroded group of rocks ranging southwest of Rame Head in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Although the nearest point on the mainland to the Eddystone is in Cornwall, the rocks fall within the ...
. Bulgarian mapping in 2017.
Maps
* L.L. Ivanov
Antarctica: Livingston Island and Smith Island.
Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2017; updated 2018.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.
Notes
References
Bekas Rock.
SCAR
A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a na ...
Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica
The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...
.
Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer.
Antarctic Place-names Commission
The Antarctic Place-names Commission was established by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in 1994, and since 2001 has been a body affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.
The Commission approves Bulgarian place names in ...
. (details in Bulgarian
basic data
in English)
External links
Bekas Rock.
Copernix satellite image
{{Antarctica topics
Rock formations of Livingston Island
Ocean Fisheries – Burgas Co
Bulgaria and the Antarctic