Being prepared, Frenchman takes in varied aid by ship (9)
I believe the answer is:
readiness
'being prepared' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'frenchman takes in varied aid by ship' is the wordplay.
'frenchman' becomes 'rene' (**).
'takes in' indicates putting letters inside.
'varied' is an anagram indicator.
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'aid' is an anagram of 'adi'.
'rene' enclosing 'adi' is 'readine'.
'readine'+'ss'='READINESS'
(Other definitions for readiness that I've seen before include "Promptitude" , "Inclination" , "State of being prepared and willing" , "initiative" , "in prepared position" .)