The pirate ship performed several roles. The crew had to be fed and kept in readiness. It was also the store room for plunder. As pirate crews were usually larger than those on merchant vessels, space was often at a premium. The ship also provided the means to attack, so it had to be well armed. It was also the sole means of escape, so speed was vital. Or as Daniel Defoe wrote in his General History, it acted "as a light pair of heels being of great use either to take, or to escape being taken." It is difficult to find contemporary illustrations of pirate ships. Pirates altered captured vessels to suit their particular needs, so it is sensible to examine the types of ships they acquired. Traditionally a 'ship refers' to a vessel with three masts and a full suite of square-rigged sails. Very few pirate vessels were 'ships' in the truest sense.

Judging by statistics, most pirates stole their craft during an attack, or acquired them through mutiny. Their ships were often deemed unsuitable, and the vessel was abandoned or sold after the capture of something better. Another source of pirate ships were the vessels fitted out as privateers. When their privateering contract ended, the crew often turned to piracy. Many pirates retained one ship through their whole (often brief) piratical career, although a few exchanged ships several times. Bartholomew Roberts changed ships six times during his career. When ships were captured they were either sold, destroyed or turned into pirate vessels themselves.

The business of privateering created the need for specialised fast, well armed vessels, and during the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-14) large numbers were produced. For English privateers, once peace was declared, the crews often saw no alternative but to turn to piracy. The advantage of privateering vessels was their suitability to pirate needs. After all, privateering was simply legitimised piracy. They made excellent pirate vessels without the need of much conversion. Not all privateers turned to piracy, and frequently ex-privateer sloops were hired by colonial governors as pirate hunters.

Pirates preferred small, fast vessels such as sloops, brigantines and schooners. Sloops produced in the Caribbean were ideally suited to the needs of pirate crews, although a small number of pirate crews preferred roomier, larger vessels. As well as speed, smaller vessels had an advantage in draft. They could enter shallow waters without fear of grounding, waters where larger vessels (such as big warships) were unable to follow. Smaller vessels were also easier to maintain and careen, an important factor if speed was to be maintained. (Careening involved beaching the vessel and scraping and cleaning the lower hulls, removing barnacles, etc.)

If a ship needed to be converted, the aim was to alter her "making such alterations as might fit her for a Sea Rover, pulling down her bulkheads, and making her flush, so that she became, in all respects, as complete a ship for their purpose as any they could have found" (Defoe). By removing unnecessary internal partitions below decks, they created a clear space to work the vessel's guns, as was the case with warships. "Making her flush" involved removing the forecastle and lowering the quarter deck so that the weather deck (upper deck) continued from bow to stern. This created an unobstructed fighting platform. The hull might also be pierced to carry extra guns, her timbers strengthened to absorb the greater stresses created by the increased armament, and she would be fitted with an array of swivel guns mounted on the gunwales.

Sloops

During the early 18th century 'sloop' described a wide range of vessels and formed the largest single type of craft encountered in the Caribbean. Sloops were usually small, single masted craft, carrying a huge spread of sail in proportion to their size. This made them fast and manoeuvrable, and their shallow draft and fast lines made them ideal as small pirate ships. Their sail arrangement was normally a fore-and-aft rig, with a mainsail and a single foresail. (At the time 'sloop' also referred to similar small vessels with one, two or three masts.)

Typical pirate sloops could carry up to 75 men and 14 guns (though many were smaller than this) and could be as large as 100 tons. Jamaican shipbuilders produced a particularly highly regarded form of sloop, with a reputation for speed and seaworthiness. Traditionally, Jamaican sloops were built using red cedar, giving them a distinctive hull colour. Bermudan sloops and schooners had a similar reputation. A variant of the sloop was the cutter, which was a small single masted vessel with a fore-and-aft mainsail, a foresail and a jib. It also frequently carried a square-rigged topsail. Cutters were traditionally employed by the navy or colonial authorities, who used them as pirate hunters.

Schooners

An American variation of the sloop, the 'schooner' became increasingly common as the 18th century wore on. Schooners were usually defined as being two masted ships carrying fore and aft sails on both masts. Their narrow hulls and large spread of sail made them fast, capable of exceeding 11 knots in the right conditions. They also had a shallow draft, allowing Pirate vessels to hide amid shallow waters and shoals. Weighing up to 100 tons, pirate schooners could carry around 75 men and eight guns. Their disadvantage for pirates was that they had a limited cruising range, and were forced to put into port to take in water and supplies. The alternative was to take what was needed from other vessels, making success a prerequisite for a pirate captain.

Barques (Barks)

This term referred to a small ship with three masts. The first two being square-rigged and the aftermast fore-and-aft rigged. The fast sailing bark was a favourite of the Caribbean pirates, Who sailed them to Africa and even Madagascar. They could hold as many as 90 men and around 12 guns.

Brigantines

Another form of vessel commonly found in American waters, the brigantine had foremast which carried square-rigged sails while their mainmasts used a fore-and-aft, and a square-rigged topsail. This sail combination allowed the brigantine to take advantage of different wind conditions. They measured up to 80 feet long, weighed up to 150 tons and could carry up to 100 men and 12 guns.
A variant of the brigantine, the brig was not so common in American or Caribbean waters. It was fully a square-rigged two-masted vessel, although it sometimes used an additional fore-and-aft sail between the two masts. Another variant was the snow, who had her spanker (the gaff-rigged sail at the back of the mainmast) set on a separate spar extension of the mainmast (the trysail). The Royal navy employed a number of snows as patrol vessels in pirate-filled waters.

Three-masted vessels (Square-Riggers)

These were true ships, three-masted vessels with a full suite of square sails. Mariners reserved the term 'merchant ship' for vessels of this type. Although slower than the smaller vessels used by pirates, these did have certain advantages. They were usually more seaworthy, provided better gun platforms and could hold a larger crew than sloops. A number of pirates, including Bartholomew Robert's and Charles vane, preferred large square-rigged ships.
Three-masted square-rigged merchant ships could also remain at sea for extended periods. Edward Teach's Queen Anne's revenge was a three-masted ex-slave ship, converted to carry 40 guns, making her as powerful as any naval vessel of a similar size. A normal merchant ship of around 300 tons would carry no more than 16 guns, although they rarely carried the crew to operate more than a fraction of them. Often the crew was only 10-15 men.

Warships

Three-masted warships started at 6th rates (carrying from 12 to 24 guns), and continued up from there. As a 5th rate frigate carried up to 40 guns, it was usually more than a match for any pirate vessel careless enough to be drawn within range of her guns. The exception were ships like Robert's Royal fortune or Teach's Queen Anne's Revenge, which carried a similar armament. However, even when the pirate ships matched the frigates in number of guns they rarely matched the naval vessels in terms of the gun-crews' discipline meaning a naval ship could fire two or three broadsides to the pirates one.

Frigates

Frigates were a class of warship next in size to the battleship ('ship-of-the-line'). Frigates had three fully rigged masts and a raised quarter-deck and forecastle. They carried from 24 to 38 guns on a single deck. Naval frigates were faster than battleships and accompanied them as lookouts and signal ships. They also escorted convoys and hunted for privateers and merchantmen. Caribbean pirates cruised in smaller ships and generally fled when they ran into a naval frigate. However, some successful pirates during the early 1700s took over and used frigates. Bartholomew Robert's fourth Royal Fortune was a captured frigate.

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