Was a number of ships required? Try ‘I saw three ships’, perhaps (7)
I believe the answer is:
wassail
'try i saw three ships perhaps' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'was a number of ships required?' is the wordplay.
'a number of ships' becomes 'sail' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'required?' says to put letters next to each other.
'was'+'sail'='WASSAIL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wassail that I've seen before include "Mulled wine" , "Sing Christmas carols" , "festive drink" , "Go carol-singing" , "Revelry" .)