Southern explorer in charge of vessels finally going north — cutters (8)
I believe the answer is:
scissors
'cutters' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'southern explorer in charge of vessels finally going north' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'explorer' becomes 'ross' (19th-century explorer John Ross).
'in charge of' becomes 'ic'.
'finally' suggests the final letters.
'going north' is a reversal indicator.
The final letter of 'vessels' is 's'.
's'+'ross'+'ic'+'s'='srossics'
'srossics' back-to-front is 'SCISSORS'.
(Other definitions for scissors that I've seen before include "Cutting instrument made of two joined blades with handles" , "lock" , "Cutting tool" , "Paper/cloth cutters" , "Cutting device with two long blades" .)