Sinking other pirates

[Captain Grizzly]

Ok, here's something I need an answer to. Since when have other pirates been able to sink your ship outside of PvP?

I was sailing around Cuba and there is a guild called the Cuban Gang lead by a character named GOLDSKULL who has been trying to control the waters around Cuba for some time now. Before it was no big deal because all they could do was try and block you from sinking the ghost ships.

But now it seems as if their war frigates have acheived the ramming skill and they can actually do damage and sink other ships.

So does any know if this has been round a while or is it something new and is this the only way to damage other players ships?