Grapple

When a ship in the battle nav portion of a sea battle has another ship right next to its broadside, that ship may choose to grapple the other ship. When this happens, the swordfighting portion of the sea battle begins.

Most battle navvers try to load the opposing ship full of shot before grappling them, so that they start the swordfighting portion of the sea battle with a large amount of unbreakable black blocks.

The grapple tokens are disabled during blockade navigation, as you are not allowed to board other ships in the blockade zone.

Historical Note
Prior to the blockade release, grapples did not exist. The swordfight began when both ships occupied the same square on the battle navigation board. (There was no such thing as ramming at this time.)