Talented sailor followed by the French (4)
I believe the answer is:
able
'talented' is the definition.
(both can mean skilled)
'sailor followed by the french' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'followed by' says to put letters next to each other.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'ab'+'le'='ABLE'
(Other definitions for able that I've seen before include "- -bodied; - seaman" , "Practised" , "Qualified - expert" , "Fitted" , "Skilled" .)