Marotiri

thumb|left|Southern rock of Marotiri Marotiri is a group of four uninhabited volcanic rocks protruding from the sea (and several submerged rocks), forming the southeastern end of the Austral Islands of French Polynesia. Marotiri is also known as Bass Rocks (Îlots de Bass in French), after the European explorer George Bass who discovered them in either late 1801 or early 1802 but whom had since erroneously deemed them the long lost Four Crowns of Quiros:

''“ Sailing North for Tahiti I found The 4 Crowns of Quiros, placed on the modern charts. I found their position to be 14 leagues E.S.E of Oparo [Rapa Iti, SD]. Of all discoveries this one gave me the most pleasure as it serves to redeem the name of a great Navigator from the infamy of having been called a liar. It is true that these 14 leagues do not correspond with Quiros's said 4 league distance but I think this to have been on account of a copy error by the one who transferred his manuscript and that 4 should have been 14. This is why Vancouver’s Oparo is the San Miquel of Quiros. When I saw the rocks and the island to the West I had no idea that the last one was Oparo, because having run a lot of sea by this time and not expecting to find myself to be close to it I thought both rocks and island to be discoveries. But having had the fortune to observe both latitude and longitude to be in accordance with Vancouver’s Oparo [...] I do not doubt it to be the same island.”''