I have been told that when a boat is attacked in the Caribbean the player that boards first defends first. Is this true? If not, does any one know if there is some other criteria, like the stronger player defends first, or is it random?

I usually board first and I usually am the stronger player. When attacked just about all of the time I defend first but there has been a couple of times that that was not the case and I do not remember if the other player boarded first those times.