The number of beams, by which the decks of ships are supported, is often very different, according to the practice of different countries; the strength of the timber of which the beams are framed; and the services for which the ship is calculated.
As the deck which contains the train of a fire-ship is furnished with an equipage peculiar to itself, the whole apparatus is particularly described in the article Fire-ship.
Flush-Deck, or Deck-Flush fore and aft, implies a continued floor laid from stem to stern, upon one line, without any steps or intervals.
Half-Deck, corps de garde, a space under the quarter-deck of a ship of war, contained between the foremost bulk-head of the steerage, and the fore-part of the quarter-deck.
In the colliers of Northumberland the steerage itself is called the half-deck, and is usually the habitation of the ship’s crew.
DECOY, a stratagem employed by a small ship of war to betray a vessel of inferior force into an incautious pursuit, till she has drawn her within the range of her cannon, or what is called within gun-shot.
It is usually performed by painting the stern and sides in such a manner as to disguise the ship, and represent her either much smaller, and of inferior force, or as a friend to the hostile vessel, which she endeavours to ensnare, by assuming the emblems and ornaments of the nation to which the stranger is supposed to belong. When she has thus provoked the adversary to chase, in hope of acquiring a prize, she continues the decoy by spreading a great sail, as endeavouring to escape, at the same time that her course is considerably retarded by an artful alteration, of her trim till the enemy approaches.
Decoying is also performed to elude the chace of a ship of superior force in a dark night, by throwing out a lighted cask of pitch into the sea, which will burn for a considerable time, and misguide the enemy. Immediately after the cask is thrown out, the ship changes her course, and may easily escape if at any tolerable distance from the foe.
DEEP-WAISTED, encastillé, the distinguishing fabric of a ship’s decks, when the quarter-deck and fore-castle are elevated from four to six feet above the level of the upper-deck, so as to leave a vacant space, called the waiste, on the middle of the upper-deck. See the article Waiste.
DEMURRAGE, an allowance given to the commander of a trading ship by the merchants, for having detained him longer in port than the time previously appointed for his departure.