The Clerke Rocks are a group of small rocky islands some southeast of South Georgia 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 f ...

(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 flora. As on the Shag Rocks, cormorants 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 consid ...

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. T ...

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, who named them for Charles Clerke, 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 ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

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 of

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = , song = , image_map = South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in United Kingdom.svg , map_caption = Location of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Oce ...

and are also claimed by

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República 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.

References

* {{SGSSI Islands of South Georgia

See also

References