Pirate The World - Online Adventure Game

I tried to find something about sinking ships, but nothing matches what I want to know. What determines whether a ship is close to sinking so that when I attack, it then sinks and I get 5000 coins? Is it the fame level and how many others have already attacked it and the coin level then dips below 0 or what? Or is it people who have joined and got frustrated and quit and these are their ships that we are attacking and sinking? I really am curious. Can anybody's ship be sunk after a certain amount of time or what. I love this game and even being a newbie, I still have a lot of fun. This game requires a lot of concentration and observation, but I adore the challenge. Ok, Captain, I await your answer on the sinking ships question. Thanks

I might not be the captain, but I can say what I know...

A ship's "sinking counter" starts when a player has not logged in for over a week...

the counter will go up whenever a player attacks it successfully...

Once the counter reaches 100, the person that hits it the 100th time will sink it and receive 5000 gp no matter what

CSStriker pretty much has it.

Anyone can be sunk after some amount of time. It really doesn't affect your ship--if you have been sunk and you log back you will have your same stats and what gold you had left.

The 5000 gold bonus doesn't come out of thin air, though... We have our sources of gold.

*looks in hollowed out pegleg*

damn pirates!

Just wanted to thank both of you for the answers. I had no idea and I wasn't even close in thinking about it either. LOL! Once again thank you CssStriker and Captain, I appreciate it. This is such a great game.