Composite electromagnetic scattering from a two-dimensional (2D) ship-like target on a one-dimensional sea surface is investigated by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. A uniaxial perfectly matched layer is adopted for truncation of FDTD lattices. The FDTD updated equations can be used for the total computation domain by choosing the uniaxial parameters properly. To validate the proposed numerical technique, a 2D infinitely long cylinder over the sea surface is taken into account first. The variation of angular distribution of the scattering changing with incident angle is calculated. The results show good agreement with the conventional moment method. Finally,the influence of the incident angle, the polarization, and the size of the ship-like target on the composite scattering coefficient is discussed in detail.