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In effect, rather than do sea battle, they would attempt to close with the enemy and, via the rails and the grappling bridges, board her and fight what would be, for most practical purposes, a land engagement at sea. - (Raiders of Gor, Chapter 17, Sentence #75)

And if the tarn ships of Cos and Tyros should use their rams, we hoped that, in the moments it would take to disengage the ram, the grappling irons and the grappling bridges might be brought into play. Meanwhile, of course, the numerous bowmen, and the men at the springals, catapults and onagers would be keeping up a heavy fire, the more devastating, the closer the distance. It was my hope that my round ships, with their large, free crews, and their artillery, and their boarding potentialities, might be a match for even heavy-class tarn ships. In effect, rather than do sea battle, they would attempt to close with the enemy and, via the rails and the grappling bridges, board her and fight what would be, for most practical purposes, a land engagement at sea. My fourth wave consisted of fifty tarn ships, instructed not to lower their masts, which would follow the round ships by an Ahn. Coming on the heels of the round ships, with their masts high, these, I assumed, might well be taken for more round ships, for the mast of a tarn ship is always lowered before battle. Accordingly I hoped the tarn ships of Cos and Tyros, seeing the sails, would think their new enemies were single-masted round ships, of which there are some types, and either misjudge their speeds or rush on them unwarily, finding out, too late, that they were plunging headlong toward swift, maneuverable, deadly, ram-carrying tarn ships. - (Raiders of Gor)