Sailors speak for passageway. There are no halls on a ship, they are all passageways. So since the words passageway is a little long, sailors shorten it to p-way. The origin of the word as related to ships comes from the fact that a passageway had been considered a covered walk way. Since original ships were open to the air any original covered walkway would be called a passageway. Then when ships became more complex the “halls” were still called passageways.

Then since we all know sailors like to make things easier on them selves they shortened the term to p-way. Most ships have a port and starboard p-way running the length of deck 1. Deck 1 is the first deck under the main deck. I will cover the deck/level numbering system beginning in October. The main forward and aft p-ways and then connected by cross ship p-ways. They are also segmented by watertight doors, hatches, at major bulkheads.