Boat nearly departed with wrong load (7)
I believe the answer is:
gondola
'boat' is the definition.
(I know that gondola is a type of boat)
'nearly departed with wrong load' is the wordplay.
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'departed' becomes 'gone' ('go' can be a synonym of 'depart').
'with wrong load' becomes 'dola' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'gone' with its final letter taken off is 'gon'.
'gon'+'dola'='GONDOLA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gondola that I've seen before include "Shop unit" , "Craft for Venetian canals" , "Boat on Venetian canals" , "Venetian transport" , "Traditional boat of Venice" .)