Arioch, that is completely false. A ship inside an island can be hit by any boat in range, as if the island is not there at all.

Again, the method to sail inside, typically takes much longer than sailing around the island (and only that fast, with a pathetic amount of practice at it.) At about 45 seconds per attempt, 3 attempts on average, it is twice as slow as sailing around, yet completely vulnerable the entire time (ship maneuvers also prevent gunners from putting up any defense, during those attempts.)

Again, it has completely fallen out of use, because it does not achieve any benefit.

Are you talking about broadside ship cannons or gunner cannons? As I sail solo without crew my broadsides do not penetrate islands they bounce off so when a ship enters an island and honest players like me who do not glitch and cannot follow they are effectively not able to be sunk as my broadsides do not fire through islands nor do they target ships inside the islands.

Sailing solo is an anathema to this game, but anyhow, no. Broadsides and cannon both go through islands if in range. The only shots that bounce off as you describe, are on the middle "rocks" in the middle of the main SvS area. Only small ships can glitch inside those rocks (Light sloop, light galleon and regular sloop only, IIRC.) If you go to the other side of the rock, you can usually hit them anyhow. Note that glitching into a rock is worlds different (and easier) from glitching into an island.

This has happened to me 3 times now. Twice at pr and once at pdf. Not intenional but enjoyed the scenic view of both islands. However IF I knew how to do it on purpose I would probably use it to get to the Mariner's reef side of pdf where the bigger ships lurk rather then sailing around and exposing my ship to damage before getting there. Of course a good crew with good cannon skills can save me a lot of damage too while accumalating reps and bounty along the way. So I guess the only purpose I can see to being able to do this is for the fun of "touring" the islands from a different point of view. Not really worth the effort. =)