Pilot a vessel around island otherwise (7)
I believe the answer is:
aviator
'pilot' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a vessel around island otherwise' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'around' could be 'o' (a round letter) and 'o' is present in the answer.
'island' could be 'i' (geographical abbreviation) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'vessel' could be 'vat' (vat is a kind of vessel) and 'vat' is found within the remaining letters.
A single letter 'r' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for aviator that I've seen before include "He travels up" , "Woman in a flying machine" , "Airman" , "Flyer in early days of planes" , "Flyer, pilot" .)