A deed lost at sea and deserted (9)
I believe the answer is:
desolated
'deserted' is the definition.
('desolate' can be a synonym of 'desert')
'a deed lost at sea' is the wordplay.
'at sea' indicates anagramming the letters.
'a'+'deed'+'lost'='adeedlost'
'adeedlost' anagrammed gives 'DESOLATED'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for desolated that I've seen before include "Feeling lonely and wretched" , "Abandoned, ruined" , "Made extremely sad" .)