Context: when a ship is "defeated" in a PVP encounter, it becomes immobilized, at which point it cannot move or fire back until it is repaired.
When in this state, if it's fired upon again, it will sink.
It would be nice for ships that become immobilized to receive a lenghty invulnerability period, where they can't be damaged/sunk. Accidental sinkings can very easily occur if the ship is being attacked with multiple weapons, by multiple players, at once.
The proposed invulnerability period would both avoid accidental sinking of a ship, as well as bring ample time for the crews to interact and/or attempt to negotiate or plead.
It would also likely make DM oversight of such encounters much easier, as once one of the ships can no longer fight, the parties involved would be forced into interaction before being able to close the encounter and the logs of such could assist in determining if there was an attempt at creating a fun experience or the assailant just wordlessly sinks the foes, waiting for the timer to expire.