Atlantic expedition leader's spoken, rowers stripped (7)
I believe the answer is:
raleigh
'atlantic expedition leader's' is the definition.
(Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabethan explorer)
'spoken rowers stripped' is the wordplay.
'spoken' becomes 'rale' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'rowers' becomes 'eight' (I've seen this before).
'stripped' indicates the central letters (outside letters removed).
The middle of 'eight' is 'igh'.
'rale'+'igh'='RALEIGH'
(Other definitions for raleigh that I've seen before include "Queen's favourite" , "Favourite of Elizabeth I executed for treason" , "Tudor explorer" , "Elizabethan sea-dog" , "English explorer" .)