Bark perhaps coming about the Spanish hold at sea (5)

'hold at sea' is the definition.
(nautical term meaning 'stop')

'bark perhaps coming about the spanish' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'perhaps' could be 'y' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'y' is found in the answer.
'about' could be 'a' (abbreviation in Chambers) and 'a' is found in the answer.
'the spanish' could be 'el' ('the' in Spanish) and 'el' is found within the answer.
A single letter 'b' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?