Titanic, possibly, the start of Hard Times: pa’s awful! (9)
I believe the answer is:
steamship
'titanic possibly' is the definition.
(the Titanic is an example)
'the start of hard times pa's awful' is the wordplay.
'the start of' indicates taking the first letters.
'awful' indicates anagramming the letters.
The first letter of 'hard' is 'h'.
'h'+'times'+'pas'='htimespas'
'htimespas' with letters rearranged gives 'STEAMSHIP'.
(Other definitions for steamship that I've seen before include "Vessel with funnels" , "SS in full" , "Tramp, say" , "Queen Elizabeth, for one?" , "What SS stands for" .)