You are quite right with your information Dave. Thanks for taking the trouble to explain all these extra details to help in expanding my answer to Gary.

The through pass of heated shot is why we use the rule of only in the hull or ships innards as a basis for that type of damage.
Our system is always tailored to add a bit of interest to what is a fast and simple game system. We always employ the Kiss method of decisions on this sort of expansion of the rules as written. Most of the chaps I play with took to Sails for the very reason that it gave them a quick game without the application of a plethora of miniscule sub rules and modifications which made most games so slow and boring. We also abhor the death by a thousand dice with which some rules seem to be obsessed. Consequently, whilst being aware of many of the details of the era, we try to emulate Andrea's ideal of distilling the bones of an idea into a quick and easily remembered system of game play.
We have tried to pick up and include the nuisances of the heated shot in our simplistic way, and I am sure that the details you have mentioned will help Gary find some way of including these extras into his game, even if he only uses them to explain why a certain rule is as it is.

Rob.