 Hannibal had 130 ships, and the historian John Lazenby calculates that Duilius had approximately the same number.The Carthaginians anticipated victory, due to the superior experience of their crews, and their faster and more manoeuvrable galleys, and broke formation to close rapidly with the Romans.The first 30 Carthaginian ships were grappled by the and successfully boarded by the Romans, including Hannibal's ship - he escaped in a skiff.