The Clerke Rocks are a group of small rocky islands some southeast 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†...
that extend from east to west. The Clerke Rocks include The Office Boys () at the northeastern end and
Nobby
{{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
Nobby is the diminutive form of the name Norbert. It is also a nickname most commonly used in English for those with the surname Clark or Clarke.
Origins as a nickname
A number of possible explanations exist fo ...
(Spanish: ''Islote Llamativo'' or ''Roca Notable'') at the southeastern end of the group. The highest island reaches above sea level. The rocks are similar to those found at
Drygalski Fjord
Drygalski Fjord is a bay wide which recedes northwestwards , entered immediately north of Nattriss Head along the southeast coast of South Georgia. It was charted by the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–12, under Wilhelm Filchner, an ...
on South Georgia. Vegetation is largely absent but there is a sparse
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.
As on the Shag Rocks,
cormorant
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...
s make up a large part of the bird population.
Macaroni penguin
The macaroni penguin (''Eudyptes chrysolophus'') is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the royal penguin, and some authorities conside ...
s and
black-browed albatross
The black-browed albatross (''Thalassarche melanophris''), also known as the black-browed mollymawk,Robertson, C. J. R. (2003) is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae; it is the most widespread and common member of its family.
...
es are known to breed here, and other birds may also do so.
Antarctic fur seal
The Antarctic fur seal (''Arctocephalus gazella''), is one of eight seals in the genus '' Arctocephalus'', and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. Despite what its name suggests, the Antarctic fur seal is mostly distributed i ...
s also breed here.
The islands were discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under Captain
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
, who named them for
Charles Clerke
Captain Charles Clerke (22 August 1741 – 22 August 1779) was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration, three with Captain James Cook. When Cook was killed during his 3rd expedition to the Pacific, Clerke took co ...
, an officer on HMS ''Resolution'', who first saw the rocks. There are no natural landing places; the first landing was made in 1927 by Norwegian whalers, who collected rock samples. Since then, three further landings have been recorded, two of them for scientific purposes.
Along with South Georgia, the
South Sandwich Islands
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and the Shag Rocks, the islands are part of a 200 mile maritime zone proclaimed in 1992. The islands belong to the
British Overseas Territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
of
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
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and are also claimed by
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, RepĂşblica Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
as part of Tierra del Fuego Province. Fishing in the zone is licensed by the South Georgia authorities which administer quotas and regulate the trade.
See also
*
Composite Antarctic Gazetteer
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 t ...
*
History of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
The history of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is relatively recent. When European explorers discovered the islands, they were uninhabited, and their hostile climate, mountainous terrain, and remoteness made subsequent settlement ...
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean.
SCAR's scien ...