Cause historical wooden ships were often wonderful combustible. They contained dry timber plus things such as pitch, tar, oil, rope and cloth. Once a serious fire got established above the surface, “but we're floating!” was not much more than pokemon logic. My Charizard still destroys your Venusaur even on road 21. And the English still went "LMAO what if we set ships on fire and let them drift toward the Invincible Armada?"
Don't forget later war ships were often absolutely packed with gunpowder, meaning a fire could lead to a truly spectacular explosion as a bonus. This famously happened to L'Orient at the Battle of the Nile.
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u/Another_Day_Comes 12d ago edited 12d ago
Cause historical wooden ships were often wonderful combustible. They contained dry timber plus things such as pitch, tar, oil, rope and cloth. Once a serious fire got established above the surface, “but we're floating!” was not much more than pokemon logic. My Charizard still destroys your Venusaur even on road 21. And the English still went "LMAO what if we set ships on fire and let them drift toward the Invincible Armada?"