Hardy character providing some steam for a ship (4)
I believe the answer is:
tess
'hardy character' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'providing some steam for a ship' is the wordplay.
'providing' becomes 't' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'some' indicates the central letters.
'for' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
The middle of 'steam' is 'e'.
't'+'e'+'ss'='TESS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tess that I've seen before include "Lady" , "20 heroine" , "- of the d'Urbevilles (Hardy)" , "tragic heroine" , "Hardy female" .)