Jack Shaftoe

Just bought the game, and every single guide and YouTube video I see tells me to "do the tutorials". I'm totally for that, and am the type to do tutorials anyway. Problem is, I can't seem to get to them. I log in, choose a name, am presented with the War or Peace server, and then are thrust right into the "intro mission" where there's two rows of ships of the line facing off against each other. I flounder around for a bit, do some damage, but if I don't do the required hull/sails/men damage before the battle timer runs out, it says I've failed, and it starts me over. Same thing with trying to hit Esc to leave the battle.... it just puts me right back at a window saying that the 1st Lieutenant is injured, and gives me my only option: Join the intro battle (again). Is this working as intended, or a bug? I know the game has had some changes over the years, but not even letting a guy get at said tutorials (that everyone tells you to do) sounds like a bad design. I've done a several Google searches looking for an answer, and haven't come across any one else mentioning the same issue. *edit* Nevermind, I finally found the answer over on a Steam forum. I've figured out a few things while doing the intro mission, but I do agree that being dumped into it before any tutorials whatsoever is going to be a tad off-putting for a large fraction of new players. Will I be able to keep items I loot from ships in the Intro Battle?