Generously left our currency to sailor with leaky exterior (8)

'generously left our currency' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'to sailor with leaky exterior' is the wordplay.
'to' becomes 'laud' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'exterior' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'leaky' with its centre removed is 'ly'.
'laud'+'ab'+'ly'='LAUDABLY'

Can you help me to learn more?