Pal working on ship (4)
I believe the answer is:
mate
'pal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'working on ship' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'on' could be 'at' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'at' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'me' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mate that I've seen before include "Final move in chess" , "Fellow worker" , "Freind, companion" , "Officer below master on a commercial ship" , "Spouse or informal friend" .)