Speaking of which, I do not claim to be a 1700's naval historian, but did wooden ships in that period use the tactic of ramming? or did it just see a resurgence with iron clads? in ww2 if a sub was surfaced, destroyer and cruiser captains would usually charge for them guns blazing and ram them, if hit they tore the top right off the bow of the sub and most of the time the entire crew would be killed.