As I remarked in a history forum, MC is unusual in that the battle scenes do not show exploding cannonballs that cause ships to blow up. As it really was at the time, damage was done by sending 600 MPH 30 pound iron balls smashing into rigging, bringing down masts and smashing crew members into little pieces. That in itself is a terrifying thought and regardless of whether you like Crowe, MC had some of the best battle scenes from that era.
I can think of at least one case where a ship did take a shot to the gunpowder magazine and blow up.
It was the French flagship L'Orient that blew up in Aboukir Bay at the
Battle of the Nile at the beginning of August 1798.
The L'Orient blew up in a huge fireball with massive loss of life during Lord Horatio Nelson's stunning surprise and overwhelming victory over the French Fleet.
In October 1805 he destroyed the entire French and Spanish Fleets off Trafalgar Bay, with just the Channel fleet that has just chased the French to Trinidad and back. It was the most lopsided battle in naval history. Nelson was shot through the spine and died in the battle.
Nelson now stands on his column in Trafalgar Square.
He faces to Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey, but his head is slightly turned to the admiralty on the right.
