Boatman, the first to defy bent copper into recollecting kidnap (9)
I believe the answer is:
abduction
'kidnap' is the definition.
(I know that kidnap can be written as abduction)
'boatman the first to defy bent copper into recollecting' is the wordplay.
'boatman' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'the first to' says to take the initial letters.
'bent copper' becomes 'uc' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'recollecting' indicates an anagram.
The first letter of 'defy' is 'd'.
'into' is an anagram of 'tion'.
'ab'+'d'+'uc'+'tion'='ABDUCTION'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abduction that I've seen before include "Kidnapping" , "forcible removal" , "Carrying off (of a person)" .)