If you're in combat, specifically multicombat, you can't do extra actions. I have cremembers set to man the helm and cannons, while I loot the mobs, tag new mobs, and make repairs.
Some of the drops I'm gettig are fish and cut gems. If I want to stay for a while, I have to drop the low gp drops, like fish.
Instead of dropping, I tried to bring a knife to make fish offcuts. It doesn't work - the action is too long, and when the boat gets attacked, it cancels the action. Same thing for the crystal extractor. If only one enemy is attacking, or they all attack on the same tick, you can time the extractor to work, but that's impossible in multicombat.
Same thing with cutting a diamond into bolt tips. The action takes too long, and the action gets interrupted.
None of this makes any sense. I'm in the middle of the boat - my hp isn't dropping, the mobs are attacking the boat, not me. Why should I be interrupted from cutting a gem? It makes no sense.
Extra addon:
Why does armor degrade, like barrows, in ship combat? Again, the boat is being attacked, not me. My hp isnt dropping. Why should my armor degrade?
