After little time ship set off (7)
I believe the answer is:
trigger
'set off' is the definition.
(I know that set off can be written as trigger)
'after little time ship' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'time' could be 't' (abbreviation) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'rigger' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for trigger that I've seen before include "Gun firing device" , "arm with this?" , "Releasing device" , "Set in motion - say gunfire" , "Start" .)