Brewer's: Hatches

Put on the hatches. Figuratively, shut the door. (Anglo-Saxon, hæc a gate. Compare haca, a bar or bolt.)

Under hatches.
Dead and buried. The hatches of a ship are the coverings over the hatchways (or openings in the deck of a vessel) to allow of cargo, etc., being easily discharged.
And though his soul has gone aloft, His body's under hatches.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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