[quote=Faulty]
So cannons are just for firing at people, not other ships, yes? Good, this makes naval combat way more fun than the simple over powered "bang bang cannon ur dead lel" rubbish.Ionians beaked with death ftw #lookoutxerxes
[/quote]

To be fair, ships didn't go down after one or two shots. Ships of this era were fairly robust, and could endure multiple hits from cannons. 

I don't know much about this, however. Do any of our native history buffs care to chime in?