A live fire demonstration at the USS Niagara Museum using a replica of the brig USS Lawrence and authentic cannon shows the devastation caused by cannonballs punching into the ship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfsuIaTU92Y
Look at the splinters these shots make once you use a wooden wall made like they did ship hulls in the age of sail.
Also I have found place online that state that the Dutch and the English Navies deliberately fired on the downroll so that any shots that hit would cause splinters. The French on the other hand would fire on the up roll in an attempt to de-mast or rip their opponents sails so that they could sail on and complete their missions instead of fighting a full scale battle.