Begins to bring food aboard ship (6)
I believe the answer is:
starts
'begins' is the definition.
('start' can be a synonym of 'begin')
'food aboard ship' is the wordplay.
'food' becomes 'tart' (tart is a kind of food).
'aboard' indicates putting letters inside.
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'tart' put into 'ss' is 'STARTS'.
'to bring' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for starts that I've seen before include "Commences" , "Begins or flinches" , "Reacts in shock" , "reacts in surprise" , "Begins to make sudden surprised movements" .)