Rescue of vessel, vase gal damaged (7)
I believe the answer is:
salvage
'rescue of vessel' is the definition.
'vase gal damaged' is the wordplay.
'damaged' is an anagram indicator.
'vase'+'gal'='vasegal'
'vasegal' anagrammed gives 'SALVAGE'.
(Other definitions for salvage that I've seen before include "Recover discarded material" , "Collect discarded material" , "get back" , "Rescued sunken cargo" , "Save from a sinking ship" .)