Said ... "Sailor dying to be taking no part!" (10)
I believe the answer is:
abstaining
'said sailor dying' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are present participle verbs, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'taking no part' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'no' could be 'n' (common abbreviation) and 'n' is found within the answer.
'part' could be 'in' (synonyms) and 'in' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to be' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for abstaining that I've seen is " Refusing to vote".)