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:--

Guns. Pounders. lbs.
Poop, 10 24 240
Quarter-deck, 22 24 long } 848
Forecastle, 10 32 cans. }
Main-deck, 34 24 816
Middle, 36 24 864
Lower, 36 32 1152
---- ----
148 3920
----
Broadside of 1960

But latterly, 56 and 84 pounders on the lower, and 32 on the middle,
afforded a heavier weight of broadside. The _Santissima Trinidada_,
taken from the Spaniards, carried four whole tiers of guns. Now, the
tonnage of the largest of these would be insignificant. "Deckers" are
exploded, and a _Pallas_ of the same tonnage (2372) carries 8 guns, a
_Bellerophon_ (4272) carries 18 guns, ranging in size, however, from the
64-pounder up to the 300-pounder.--_Flush-deck_, or deck flush fore and
aft, implies a continued floor laid from stem to stern, upon one line,
without any stops or intervals.--_Half-deck._ In the Northumberland
colliers the steerage itself is called the half-deck, and is usually the
habitation of the ship's crew.

DECK-SEAM. The interstices between the planks.

DECK-SHEET. That sheet of a studding-sail which leads directly to the
deck