1v1 Ship Battle and mine lost?

[KnightFandragon]

Ok, so, here go. I had this lone 38gun frigate in the English Channel for troop transport between England and France....then this other lone 38gun French frigate, so totally identical units attacks me. So, here go into battle, and this happened twice now...

SO, I start off, I close the range and I fire the first like 4 salvos, first 2 do nothing, next 2 start to knock out a gun here and there, some crew. I keep circling, I fire about 3 more salvos, more guns, more crew. As we circle some more, the enemy ship fires his first salvo, little effect, so im like, hey, I got this. I keep circling, fire about 3 more times before he fires again. In the end, I have the enemy ship full of holes, down to half his guns and crew or worse. Ofc, his hull is somehow unscathed, and both his health bars are still green....how, idk, missing half ur guns and crew, one would think ur hull is nearly destroyed. But, but, that is not the good part. We keep circling and the enemy fires at me maybe 2 more salvos....AND WINS!!!!! So, in the end, I fire at him nearly 5:1 or better in shots, take out SIGNIFICANTLY more of his ship then he did of mine, yet he wins both times. He fires like 4 salvos and my ship first time morale broke and run off, 2nd time, sprung a leak and sunk.....

Soooo....What in the oh-unholy hell am I missing? WHY oh WHY did he win? Identical units, same rank, I fired TONS more then he did and he wins.....

[Zajuts149]

Depends on where he hit you. Did he manage to rake you? Did you get close enough to try to dismast him? Also, do you hit him on both sides of the ship while he only hit 1 of yours?