Southern bird at rear of ship (5)
I believe the answer is:
stern
'rear of ship' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'southern bird' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'bird' becomes 'tern' (tern is a kind of bird).
's'+'tern'='STERN'
'at' is the link.
(Other definitions for stern that I've seen before include "Rear end" , "Austere rear part of a ship?" , "enforcing submission" , "Ship's rear" , "End part" .)