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 understand how this works, but
'child' could be 'ch' (abbreviation for child) and 'ch' is located in the answer.
'earlier' could be 'sooner' (synonyms) and 'sooner' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' is the 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" .)