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 the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'child' could be 'ch' (abbreviation for child) and 'ch' is found in the answer.
'earlier' could be 'sooner' (synonyms) and 'sooner' is found within the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
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" .)