Can anyone settle a debate I got into with someone recently?
Somewhere, at some point, I read about the use of one of the ship's boats as a fire reservoir in battle -- it was left on deck & filled with water. Now, I know they generally put the boats out to tow astern, & I have got to the point of having read so much that these little bits stick in my mind with no reference as to where I read them, which can be rather annoying... I must have read it somewhere, but the person I was discussing it with made some very obvious points against this practice (the ship has a pump; if the boat got hit it would make a mess), as well as commenting that filling the boat with water might damage it because the pressure would all be on the wrong side of the timbers.
Now I'm wondering why I had this idea, & where I might have read it. Can any of you tell me if this was ever really done?

Interesting. I can't recall coming across water being stored. Animals, yes.

Perhaps it will ring a bell with someone else?

I have heard of this being done in more recent times (e.g. WW1) before going into action but I cannot recall an example from the Age of Sail.