Ship's officer died, finished off on board (5)
I believe the answer is:
mated
'finished off on board' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'ship's officer died' is the wordplay.
'ship's officer' becomes 'mate' (mate is a kind of ship's officer).
'died' becomes 'd'.
'mate'+'d'='MATED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mated that I've seen before include "had sex" , "Joined, connected" , "Defeated in game" , "given match" .)