A three-dimensional time-domain calculation method is of crucial importance in prediction of the motions and wave loads of a ship advancing in a severe irregular sea. The exact solution of the free surface wave-ship interaction problem is very complicated because of the essentially nonlinear boundary conditions. In this paper, an approximate body nonlinear approach based on the three-dimensional time-domain forward-speed free-surface Green function has been presented. The Froude-Krylov force and the hydrostatic restoring force are calculated over the instantaneous wetted surface of the ship while the forces due to the radiation and scattering potentials over the mean wetted surface. The time-domain radiation and scattering potentials have been obtained from a time invariant kernel of integral equations for the potentials which are discretized according to the second-order boundary element method (Hong and Hong 2008). The diffraction impulse-response functions of the Wigley seakeeping model advancing in transient head waves at various Froude numbers have been presented. A simulation of coupled heave-pitch motion of a long rectangular barge advancing in regular head waves of large amplitude has been carried out. Comparisons between the linear and the approximate body nonlinear numerical results of motions and wave loads of the barge at a nonzero Froude number have been made.