You're right Jim - the experience and skill needed to navigate, maneuver and fight a sailing warship was exceptional. One of the reasons for the decline of the French navy after the revolution was the loss of these skills with the decimation of the officer class.
But of course once it came down to boarding then it was all down to messy hand to hand combat.
In 1798 Napoleon was so pleased with the capture of the HMS Ambuscade that he ordered a painting of the battle. It was completed in 1801 - so practically a photograph! It depicts all the weapons of a boarding action - pistols, muskets (both ends), cutlasses, pikes and a goodly number of axes. The French crew can be clearly seen holding the ships together with grappling irons.
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