Vessel carrying fruit -- and weapons (6)
I believe the answer is:
spears
'weapons' is the definition.
(spear is a kind of weapon)
'vessel carrying fruit' is the wordplay.
'vessel' becomes 'ss'.
'carrying' indicates putting letters inside.
'fruit' becomes 'pear' (pear is a kind of fruit**).
'ss' enclosing 'pear' is 'SPEARS'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for spears that I've seen before include "Pointed poles as weapons" , "Javelins" , "asparagus perhaps" , "Lances" , "Long pointed weapons" .)