all hands on deck (nautical) An order, on board ship, for all seamen of all watches to muster on deck immediately; normally shortened to "All hands" http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_hands_on_deck

All hands on deck is a well-known 成語. It means "everybody get to work". The deck is a level of a boat (艇甲板) . "Hands" refers to "people" (sailors) if there is a storm at night, and all the sailors are sleeping, but the ship is in danger, the captain may wake them all up and say 'all hands on deck!' meaning everyone must wake up and work now, because the ship is in trouble As for "pipe", I'm not sure. But "pipe" in some rare cases can mean to speak, such as in the 成語 "Pipe down!" which means to stop talking or be quiet. So this may mean "Tell everyone all hands on deck". sailors have their own special language, like port and starboard versus left and right, as just one example.

sounds like something from star trek :P

A boatswain's call or pipe is a pipe used on naval ships by a boatswain It is ... All Hands on Deck: Crews were split into two rotating watches that stood for four hours at work. Historically the boatswain's call was used to pass commands to the crew when the voice could not be heard over the sounds of the sea. Because of its high pitch, it could be heard over the activities of the crew and bad weather. It is now used in traditional bugle calls such as Evening Colors/Sunset, and in other ceremonies in most modern navies. It is sometimes accompanied by other auditive features such as ruffles and flourishes, voice commands and announcements, or even a gun salute. cowboy...

"pipe all hands on deck." means "call all crews to the desk of a ship via a whistle." For reference only. I wish it could help.