Sat in bow, nervously embracing a sailor (9)
I believe the answer is:
boatswain
'sailor' is the definition.
(boatswain is an officer on a ship)
'sat in bow nervously embracing a' is the wordplay.
'nervously' indicates an anagram.
'embracing' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sat'+'in'+'bow'='satinbow'
'satinbow' anagrammed gives 'boatswin'.
'boatswin' going around 'a' is 'BOATSWAIN'.
(Other definitions for boatswain that I've seen before include "Seaman" , "I was not AB (anag) - naval warrant officer" , "Crew member" , "who has a pipe with a mate?" , "Warrant officer in charge of a ship's crew" .)