Desert ship? Left having arrived earlier (5)
I believe the answer is:
camel
'desert ship?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'left having arrived earlier' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'having arrived' becomes 'came' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'earlier' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'l' put after 'came' is 'CAMEL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for camel that I've seen before include "Humped mammal" , "Yellowish" , "Ungulate mammal" , "fawn" , "Bearer of burdens" .)