It's to do with ships in actual trouble (8)

I believe the answer is:

nautical

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'it's to do with ships' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'in actual trouble' is the wordplay.
'trouble' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in'+'actual'='inactual'
'inactual' is an anagram of 'NAUTICAL'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for nautical that I've seen before include "like a sailor" , "Seafaring" , "Relating to sailors" , "about boats" , "Of sailors or ships" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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