Take back rotten rope on ships round east (9)
I believe the answer is:
repossess
'take back' is the definition.
(I know that take back can be written as repossess)
'rotten rope on ships round east' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'rope' is 'repo' which is located in the answer.
'east' could be 'e' (synonyms) and 'e' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for repossess that I've seen before include "Claim back, for default of payment perhaps" , "Get back" , "Take back (goods)" , "Take back ownership" , "Regain legal ownership" .)