Hearing a noise on deck, they, by and bye, left us; having first taken the precaution of Battening down the hatches above our heads.
"A Lady's Captivity among Chinese Pirates in the Chinese Seas"
Fanny Loviot
Visions of Battening down, of a horrible half-hour spent in darkness beneath closed hatchways and crushing, thunderous seas, arose in the minds of her dismayed passengers.
"The Luck of Gerard Ridgeley"
Bertram Mitford
On one occasion he wrote explaining with what weariness he had been Battening rhymes for three hours in his head, and could get nothing out: "I must beg you to excuse me," he ingeniously added, "for I've worked just as much for you as though I had done something."
"The History of "Punch""
M. H. Spielmann