Ship's father figure discovered here (9)
I believe the answer is:
freighter
'ship's' is the definition.
(freighter is a kind of ship)
'father figure discovered here' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'fr' (abbreviation as in a priest's title).
'figure' becomes 'eight' (eight is a number).
'discovered' indicates the central letters (dis-covered - outer letters removed).
The central letters of 'here' are 'er'.
'fr'+'eight'+'er'='FREIGHTER'
(Other definitions for freighter that I've seen before include "Cargo-carrying ship or plane" , "Cargo-ship" , "A plane carrying large load" , "transport vessel" , "Cargo ship" .)