Women drag a bludger about in a sea-going vessel (9)

I believe the answer is:

whaleboat

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'vessel' is the definition.
(whaleboat is a kind of vessel)

'women drag a bludger' is the wordplay.
'women' becomes 'w'.
'drag' becomes 'hale' (I've seen this in another clue).
'a bludger' becomes 'boat' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'w'+'hale'+'boat'='WHALEBOAT'

'about in a sea-going' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for whaleboat that I've seen before include "sailing vessel" , "Harpooner's vessel" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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