John Peter Bollons ISO (10 November 1862 – 18 September 1929) was a New Zealand marine captain, naturalist and ethnographer.

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.

[1] The government steamers had various duties throughout New Zealand's waters, including supplying and supporting lighthouses, charting the coasts, patrolling and replenishing castaway depots in the subantantarctic islands – as well as searching for lost vessels – and carrying scientific and navigational parties.

He was very well regarded by the members of the Expedition as he regularly pointed out and ensured they visited areas he was familiar with and thought might interest them.

He spoke Te Reo and the love of this language was reflected in the fact that all of his children had Māori middle names.

[8] Bollons' reputation as an amateur ornithologist was widespread, and he donated a number of eggs to the American Museum of Vertebrate Zoology in 1923, and provided significant information on the breeding practices of albatrosses.

Bollons was the subject of Captain John Niven, a fictionalised biography by Bernard Fergusson, who lived in New Zealand for a time when his father served as Governor-General.

[11] He married Lilian Rose Hunter, the daughter of a master mariner, in 1896 in Invercargill, and in 1911, the family moved to Wellington.

He is buried at Bluff, and a memorial was erected in All Saints' Church, Kilbirnie, which was unveiled by Governor General Sir Charles Fergusson.