Be joining skipper finally on ship -- a German (8)
I believe the answer is:
berliner
'a german' is the definition.
(Berliner is an example)
'be joining skipper finally on ship' is the wordplay.
'joining' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'finally' says to take the final letters.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'ship' becomes 'liner' (liner is a kind of ship**).
The last letter of 'skipper' is 'r'.
'be'+'r'+'liner'='BERLINER'
(Other definitions for berliner that I've seen before include "German capitalist" , "Person from the German capital" , "capital chap" , "Citizen of Germany's capital" , "European citizen < in trio" .)