Bolts sailors do on empty decks (8)
I believe the answer is:
absconds
'bolts' is the definition.
('abscond' can be a synonym of 'bolt')
'sailors do on empty decks' is the wordplay.
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'do' becomes 'con'.
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'empty' means to remove the middle letters.
'decks' with its middle taken out is 'ds'.
'abs'+'con'+'ds'='ABSCONDS'
(Other definitions for absconds that I've seen before include "Decamps" , "Does a bunk" , "Bolts, runs away" , "Flees to escape from a legal process" , "Flees, runs away" .)