Article put behind sailors in drink (8)
I believe the answer is:
absinthe
'drink' is the definition.
(absinthe is a kind of drink)
'article put behind sailors in' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'put behind' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (AB is short for able seaman).
'abs'+'in'='absin'
'the' put after 'absin' is 'ABSINTHE'.
(Other definitions for absinthe that I've seen before include "French liqueur" , "Green aniseed liqueur" , "Bitter liqueur" , "Green wormwood drink" , "Strong green alcoholic drink" .)