Sketches of the equipment in a vessel (5)
I believe the answer is:
skits
'sketches' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the equipment in a vessel' is the wordplay.
'the equipment' becomes 'kit' (kit is a kind of equipment).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a vessel' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'kit' inserted into 'ss' is 'SKITS'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for skits that I've seen before include "Pieces of humorous mimicry" , "Short satirical pieces of drama" , "Satires" , "Sketches" .)