Pretty much just as the title says. What king of numbers worked on an average, medium size, fully staffed ship? Was their a different between pirates/privateers/buccaneers and ships of the crown eg Spain and England? What was considered understaffed? Is there any book or resource that gives a rundown of this sort of info for different ships and of ship classes?
Oh boy, let's see. Just a warning, I'm in class and on Mobile so I'll edit this when I have actual resources. Just going off memory right now.
There was obviously a Captain. He ran the ship in the way the governemnt runs a country. It was somewhat a democracy until they went into battle. Once they entered combat, the Captain had total control and his word was law.
Next would be the First Mate. He was pretty much the Vice President or, in military terms, the COmmand Sergeant Major. When the Captain was away or otherwise occupied, he ran the day-to-day operations of the ship.
From what I understand, the next highest position would be the Quarter master. This man was your logistics officer. He split the loot, the pay, the food, the drinks, etc. The Captain, the First mate and the Quarter Master were usually buddy-buddy.
There was also the usual chain of command by seniority or what not. Second Mate and so on. Military Ships used the Naval CoC.
Usually ships had specialists on board for every situation and they are pretty self explanatory.
-Carpenter/Cooper to repair the ship after storms and after fights.
Navigator so you don't get lost and pretty much and orienteering job you can think of.
Gunner who would supervise the crew members below deck who were manning the cannons during fights. It was also his job to clean, maintain and organize the weapkns and their ammo/ powder.
That's it for the most part, I think. A good sized Galleon might have a crew of 50-60 men. A british Man-o-War might run 60-80 depending on of they were carrying a troop of soldiers or were under manned, etc.
Pirate sloops probably, on average, were crewed by no more than 25-30 men. Their ships were meant to be light and fast, not big and bulky. There are always exceptions but for the most part, they had small ships and a small crew.