Ship Destruction

[Napalm Eddie]

I've been exploring around with my ship and on occasion my ship will have gotten destroyed while I'm logged off. The structure near my ship doesn't get destroyed, just the ship. Do the creatures only attack ships while you're logged off? Do only creatures with ranged attack go after them? I've also noticed this with any carts I leave outside of my walls. I hate to park my boat way out at sea, but that seems the best solution at the moment!

 

[KingTuttski]

I don't know the answer, but I have some observations to throw into the mix. I have two separate instances in my single-player server where I took the ship out to explore, parked along the shore, jumped off and died on the land. Many game-days later (at least 30) and many hours logged off the ships are still parked along the shore in those locations (I sailed by and saw them, just not ready to retrieve yet. So... they can stay there while you're logged off.
Maybe there's a factor where you logged off nearby (and therefore the enemies were spawning nearby)?

 

[Napalm Eddie]

Yeah I've got another ship that's been anchored off a more hostile shore than my home base and it's still intact. So I guess it just has to do with what creatures spawn nearby and if they have some kind of ranged attack?

 

[TheKhopesh]

I've been exploring around with my ship and on occasion my ship will have gotten destroyed while I'm logged off. The structure near my ship doesn't get destroyed, just the ship. Do the creatures only attack ships while you're logged off? Do only creatures with ranged attack go after them? I've also noticed this with any carts I leave outside of my walls. I hate to park my boat way out at sea, but that seems the best solution at the moment!

I empty enough space and weight in my inventory for the boat materials, and then break it while standing as close as I can to the mast (the log that holds up the sails).
That way I get all the materials back and I can just take my boat with me or drop it in a chest until I need it again.
Same with carts.

Offload whats in the inventory, and break it down for the materials.

 

[Caswallon]

Ah! A possibility here I have observed: Beware the water breathign skelitons!

I kept having a Longship destroyed in roughly the same spot every night even though the field base was not attacked and I didnt see anythign out of the ordinary. The water was shallow enough to recover the nails and rebuild with a bit of effort but still annoying!

Then one night I was outside and heard arrows but could not see where - I checked the boat and yes a skeliton Archer was shooting at it from below sea level! I managed to aggro the skelie just before Boat sinking #4 this time and have moved my harbour. No further sinkings have occure dthough its now is a less "good" position for protection from high waves etc..

Dunno if that was a one off for my world seed but reading the thread I wonder if thats what it was for the OP now? Or a similar "hidden" enemy bashing his boat from belkow while they worked in their base or slept?

(This was in Meadows at night post Bone mass but pre Moder in terms of game progress if thats relavant?)