Earlier, the child boarded the ship (8)
I believe the answer is:
schooner
'ship' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'earlier the child boarded' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'child' could be 'ch' (abbreviation for child) and 'ch' is present in the answer.
'earlier' could be 'sooner' (synonyms) and 'sooner' is present in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for schooner that I've seen before include "Item used for drinking" , "Old sailing ship and tall sherry glass" , "Swift sailing vessel - sherry glass" , "A measure or glass for sherry" , "Old sailing vessel and large glass" .)