The crew thought him a bit of a blighter (5)
I believe the answer is:
bligh
'the crew thought him a bit of a blighter' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
This is all the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bligh that I've seen before include "HMS Bounty captain" , "Sea captain" , "CA [CHILDRENS ADVENTURE] captain" , "Vice admiral" , "old captain dismissed" .)