Fugitives and sailor trick the German aboard ship (10)
I believe the answer is:
absconders
'fugitives' is the definition.
(absconder is a kind of fugitive)
'sailor trick the german aboard ship' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'trick' becomes 'con' (I've seen this before).
'the german' becomes 'der' ('the' in German).
'aboard' is an insertion indicator.
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'con'+'der'='conder'
'conder' put inside 'ss' is 'sconders'.
'ab'+'sconders'='ABSCONDERS'
'and' is the link.
(Another definition for absconders that I've seen is " Fugitives".)