I am the captain of one of these gunboats ("Lune", if to be more correct).
I can't say something about madness in Leeds. Part of our fleet just left and who remains were not be able to fight good.
And I have to admit, that I made a mistake in Newcastle. Everything wasn't on my side. I had to wait you on trade lanes, but I decided to go to planet to show, how brave I am. It was pretty silly from my side. The battlefiels was bad for me. Stations, npc (npc-gunboat caused me a lot of damage and ate a lot of my energy), closed space. It was hard to fight in this conditions. And I was gone, yes. I was fighting with 6 ships (include this npc-gunboat and him fighters) and I was trying to do my best just for destroying this transport. Sadly, but I failed. I don't have enough pvp-exp., it looks like.
So, all in all, the first situation was our mistakes. (+Cowards, who just docked). We were trying to fight like tigers, but failed.
The second situation and loss in it is only my mistake. I sorry for it.
Regards,
Captain of "Lune" Gallic Gunboat.