Bookish captain's exclamation to a seaman (4)
I believe the answer is:
ahab
'bookish captain's' is the definition.
'ahab' can be an answer for 'captain's' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'bookish' bit.
'exclamation to a seaman' is the wordplay.
'exclamation' becomes 'ah'.
'to a seaman' becomes 'ab'.
'ah'+'ab'='AHAB'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ahab that I've seen before include "Jezebel's husband or captain in 'Moby Dick'" , "Captain in search of Moby Dick" , "Captain hunting the whale Moby-Dick" , "Whaling Captain" , "Husband of Jezebel" .)