Definition of "well-deck" [well-deck]

• An open space on the main deck of a ship, inclosed like a well by the bulwarks and partial higher decks forward and aft. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "A couple of men were sheltering from the following wind in the well-deck before the bridge, quietly smoking."
• "That, at least, wouldn't excite suspicion: the wind was strong now, the cold rain driving across the well-deck at an angle of almost forty-five degrees."
• "To get to the other side of the rig we had to cross the hundred-foot width of the well-deck where I'd talked to Joe Curran, the roustabout foreman, in the early hours of that morning."