The Protector Seamounts, located 30 km NW of Zavodovski Island, form the northernmost volcanic region of the South Sandwich volcanic arc. Bathymetry described by Leat et al. (2013) showed that Nimrod Bank forms the central point in the seamount chain. Protector Shoal, on the S end of the bank, is a broad, gently sloping cone that rises to within 55 m of the ocean surface. Large amounts of rhyolitic pumice, first detected by the Royal Navy Ice Patrol Vessel H.M.S. Protector, were ejected during its only recorded eruption in 1962 and formed an extensive pumice raft which drifted as far as New Zealand.