The French stole what covers Ahab's vessel
I believe the answer is:
whaleboat
'vessel' is the definition.
(whaleboat is a kind of vessel)
'the french stole what covers' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'stole' becomes 'boa' (both can mean a type of scarf).
'covers' indicates putting letters inside.
'le'+'boa'='leboa'
'leboa' inserted within 'what' is 'WHALEBOAT'.
'ahab's' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for whaleboat that I've seen before include "Harpooner's vessel" , "sailing vessel" .)