John Bollons

John Peter Bollons ISO (10 November 1862 – 18 September 1929) was a New Zealand marine captain, naturalist and ethnographer. For many years he captained New Zealand government steamers, including the NZGSS Hinemoa, which undertook lighthouse work and patrols through New Zealand's subantarctic islands. Bollons Island, in the Antipodes Islands, is named after him. In 1928 he was appointed a Companion of the Imperial Service Order.

Bollons was born 10 November 1862 in Bethnal Green, England, the son of a London cab master. At 19, Bollons joined the crew of the Barque "England's Glory. After an eventful trip from the West Indies, the ship was wrecked at Bluff 1881, with no loss of life. Bollons and another young crew member were taken in by one of the local Māori families. He married Lilian Rose Hunter, the daughter of a master mariner, in 1896 in Invercargill. In 1911, the family moved to Wellington. They had four daughters and four sons: Thomas Tangaroa (b. 1896), John Tutanekai (b. 1897, Alan Awarua (b. 1900), Liliian Hinemoa (b. 1903), Desmond Maori (b. 1905), Kathleen Rawhiti (b. 1908), and Patricia Maimoa (b. 1909), and Nancy Awatea born 1914. Bollons died after developing pneumonia following hernia surgery on 18 September 1929. He is buried at Bluff, and a memorial was erected in All Saints' Church, Kilbirnie, which was unveiled by Governor General Sir Charles Fergusson.

Bollons went to sea at the age of 19, joining a barquentine en route to the West Indies. In 1881, his ship England's Glory ran aground in Bluff; he settled in the town, working for a pilot cutter before gaining work on the government ketch Kekeno. From then until 1892 he served aboard a number of local and merchant vessels before gaining his master's certificate, after which he worked on Marine Department steamers. In 1898 he became captain of the Government Service Steamer Hinemoa.

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