John Maclear

John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear (27 June 1838 in Cape Town – 17 July 1907 in Niagara) was an admiral in the Royal Navy, known for his leadership in hydrography.

He is best known for being Commander of HMS Challenger (1858) during the Challenger Expedition (1872–1876) under its commission captain, Sir George Nares, for the voyage of scientific discovery in which the ship went round the world. This expedition led to the science of oceanography, after which various ocean features are named, including the Challenger Plateau near New Zealand. During this expedition the Maclear's Rat on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean was named after him. He is also honoured in the specific epithet of Dicliptera maclearii, a plant in the family Acanthaceae which is endemic to Christmas Island.

Maclear entered the Navy in September 1851 as a cadet on board the frigate Castor, then bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Christopher Wyvill, then commanding the Cape station. In her he saw service during the Kaffir war of 1851, and afterwards, as a midshipman of the Algiers, served in the Baltic and in the Black Sea from 1854 to 1856, receiving, the Baltic, Turkish, and Crimean medals, with the clasp for Sevastopol. He passed his Lieutenant's examination in July 1857, and served on board HMS Cyclops in the Red Sea as mate during the outbreak at Jeddah in 1858.

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