Gerry Clark
New Zealand sailor, writer and ornithologist (1927–1999)
Gerald Stanley Clark (9 May 1927 – June 1999) was a New Zealand sailor, writer and ornithologist. He is notable for his ornithological research work on subantarctic islands and for his circumnavigation of Antarctica in his self-built yacht Totorore.
Early years
Clark was born in Colchester, England, and educated at boarding school and later at the Thames Nautical Training College, then known as HMS Worcester. In 1944, unable to join the Royal Navy because of a visual defect, he joined the British Merchant Navy, serving with the Union-Castle Line on the Liberty ship Samflora, and completing his cadet training during a two-year cruise without home leave. Upon discharge from the Samflora he joined the Straits Steamship Company, based in Singapore, as a junior officer on small ships trading through the islands of South East Asia.
In 1951 Clark returned to England to attend the Warsash Maritime Centre at Southampton to sit for his Master's Certificate. While he was there he married Marjorie Ellen Bates who later joined him in Singapore, where the couple had four daughters. There Clark was promoted first to captain and then to assistant marine superintendent of a fleet of fifty vessels.
New Zealand
In 1958 Clark and his family moved to Kerikeri in New Zealand, where he bought the Homelands orchard. Although they struggled at first, eventually they successfully pioneered the organic farming of citrus and sub-tropical fruits in the area.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Gerry Clark” as new Zealand sailor, writer and ornithologist (1927–1999). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as new Zealand sailor, writer and ornithologist (1927–1999). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5552683. VIAF identifies the subject as 54187296. The Library of Congress control number is no91004224. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1999, 1944 and 1951.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gerry Clark” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.