Posted by Jon on April 19, 2006 at 13:14:20 from 199.159.117.62 user Jon.
In Reply to: burning schooner posted by Lyn on April 18, 2006 at 19:00:31:
Possibly not from personal experience, but wooden ships burning and sinking weren't exactly unknown. He may have had at least second-hand experience as a result of German commerce raiders and U-boats destroying coasters and fishing vessels during the Great War. Fireships were a common weapon during the days of wooden ships and iron men (think back to the Spanish Armada), as was the use of fireshot. Artists not infrequently depicted sea battles and their consequences, in which either of these might have been used.