DECK, TO. A word formerly in use for to trim, as "we deckt up our sails." DECK-BEAM KNEES. The same as _lodging-knees_. DECK-BEAMS. _See_ BEAMS. DECK-CARGO, otherwise _deck-load_ (which see). DECK-CLEATS. Pieces of wood temporarily nailed to the deck to secure objects in bad weather, as guns, deck-load, &c. DECK-HOOK. The compass timber bolted horizontally athwart a ship's bow, connecting the stem, timbers, and deck-planks of the fore-part; it is part and parcel of the _breast-hooks_. DECK-HOUSE. An oblong-house on the deck of some merchantmen, especially east-country vessels, and latterly in passenger steamers, with a gangway on each side of it. (Sometimes termed _round-house_.) DECK-LOAD. Timber, casks, or other cargo not liable to damage from wet, stowed on the deck of merchant vessels. This, with the exception of carboys of vitriol, is not included in a general policy of insurance on goods, unless it be specially stipulated. DECK-NAILS. A kind of spike with a snug head, commonly made in a diamond form; they are single or double deck-nails, and from 4 to 12 inches long. DECK-PIPE. An iron pipe through which the chain cable is paid into the chain-locker. DECK-PUMPS. In a steamer, are at the side of the vessel, worked with a lever by manual power, to supply additional water. In a ship-of-war, used for washing decks (one of the midship pumps). DECKS. The platforms laid longitudinally over the transverse beams; in ships of war they support the guns. The terms in use for these decks are, assuming the largest ship of the line:--_Poop_, the deck which includes from the mizen-mast to the taffrail. The _upper_ or _spar-deck_, from stem to stern, having conventional divisions; as, _quarter-deck_, which is, when clear for action, the space abaft the main-mast, including the cabin; next, _the waist_, between the fore and main masts, on which the spars and booms are secured. In some ships guns are continued (always in flush-decked ships) along the gangway; then _the forecastle_, which commences on the gangway, from the main-tack chock forward to the bows. Small craft, as brigs and corvettes, are sometimes fitted with top-gallant forecastles, to shelter the men from heavy seas which wash over. Next, the _main or gun-deck_, the entire length of the ship. It is also divided conventionally into the various cabins, the waist (under the gangway), the galley, from the fore-hatchway to the sick bay, and bows. Next below, is the _middle deck_ of a three-decker, or _lower_ of a two-decker, succeeded by lower deck and the orlop-deck, which carries no guns. The guns on these several decks increase in size and number from the poop downwards. Thus, although a vessel termed a three-decker was rated 120 guns, the fact stood thus:--