[WELL sb.1 9 b.] An open space on the main deck of a ship, lying at a lower level between the forecastle and poop; also attrib. Hence Well-decked a., furnished with a well-deck. Also Well-decker, a ship with a well-deck.
1888. Daily Tel., 22 March, 2/1. The objection to the well-deck ship is not due to structural form.
1888. Engineer, 8 June, 468/3. Steamers of the ‘well-deck’ type.
1888. Iron, 22 June, 554. A well-decked steamer of 270 feet length. Ibid. (1888), 20 July, 65. The Hurworth has a poop, long raised quarter-deck, long bridge…, and a topgallant forecastle, leaving only a short well-deck.
1889. Engineer, 1 March, 192/2. A large proportion of the steamers built and owned at West Hartlepool are ‘well-deckers.’
1898. Kipling, Day’s Work, 83. The deck amidships, which was a well-deck sunk between high bulwarks.
