it is believed that the phrase "the devil to pay" refers to the task of caulking, or "paying", the deck seams with hot pitch. the outermost seam—between the deck and the hull—is the hardest to caulk. it is called "the devil". the full phrase is "the devil to pay, and no pitch hot"—more generally the phrase is used to refer to any urgent, desperate situation. however this has been disputed in numerous sources and worldwidewords.com references the phrase as: