Monster ship!

If there were a ship that were ever a golden target for pirates, it be an East Indiaman. She be by far the largest in the sea and best for long voyages. This titan weighed in at 700 tons! A pirate would spy this giant sea chest on the horizon and get doubloon $igns in his eyes. The maximum pirate crew was about 300 men, was probably possible only after successful runs in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. She could carry about 54 cannons to each broadside, but this number was usually reduced to make room for more loot.

The vessels

It must be known to ye already that we pirates do most of our fightin at sea. Hollywood has portrayed our ships as huge and luxurious that had enough room for many people, a jail, cabins, and a place for all the loot. This is wrong. We used ships called "Sloops". They were usually about 30 to 60 feet long, could be manned by 20 to a maximum of about 70 men, and had about 15 cannons to each broadside. Sloops were small, but were very light and could travel extreamly fast. This was perfect because we were more of a "hit and run" type of people. These ships could easily manuver around others and sail in circles around bigger ships like Galleons. This way, pirates could hit everywere, take the loot, and then continue to the next victim.