How much did ships and ship warfare improve from Columbus days (1492) to the Pirate era (1650-1730)?

This is a good question - especially since it allows for people to see a bigger picture on the subject known as Maritime History.

In the Atlantic World, ships and combat at sea transformed significantly from 1500-1700. The quickest way to describe the change is - "This marked the first major step towards the modern battle fleet." Why? Artillery, more travel across the oceans, and the heightened importance for European maritime competitors to protect sea-going commerce.

As time progressed over this two-century period, artillery at sea (which is referred to as guns mostly, not cannon) developed greatly construction, and number. The early era for ships is not known for standardizing various aspects of vessels - the later seventeenth and greater eighteenth century saw many more standards and regulations set up for ship designs, artillery design/caliber standards, and overall organization. But early on, with the development of ships of war that carried many guns being a relatively new concept, standardization didn't come in as a large effort. In Navy vessels, things were still being figured out. What is the best method for distributing guns on a ship is an issue? How many guns can you put on a vessel? Add onto that the designs of the vessels in these era could result in putting too much weight on the top and make said vessels vulnerable to tipping, it is hard to standardized when figuring such things out. Early vessels in this period did not even develop the concept of having one dedicated powder magazine (for example, the archaeology on the warships Mary Rose of the 1540s and the Vasa of the 1620s both show not possessing a dedicated room for powder storage). Early guns generally did not have the same kind of power and range of later guns. While better gunpowder over time helped, the guns of the Mary Rose era often found more employment in closer battles and became man killers rather than ship smashers. Gun materials of the time were both brass (or bronze) and iron, though iron didn't win over brass in popularity until notably later in the seventeenth century. At first, the iron guns were a bit difficult to produce, had shorter lifespans of use, and generally under performed in comparison to brass. Iron eventually won out as production of them changed and made them more reliable and so inexpensive that it made too much sense to produce them over brass. As time progressed, more guns with larger calibers that could smash more at longer ranges came about. Also, the use of breechloading guns greatly declined by the seventeenth century - basically, keeping the breech chamber (shaped a lot like a mug) properly wedged to prevent gas leakage or even backfiring became too much. With the development of the ship carrying many guns also developed the method of deploying fleets in lines - and vessels large enough (with the ability withstand a hard battle and throw large amounts of shot at the enemy) became known as the "Ships of the Line." I know I am doing a lot of generalizing here, but the subject of guns at sea and maritime combat literally fills chapters and books.

Now, the issue of travel by sea. From 1500-1700, travel of vessels across the Atlantic and into other oceans expanded greatly. Vessels design had to adopt accordingly. One had to be able to store enough food to survive long enough until the next place food would be available - and the vessels had to be seaworthy enough to withstand the length of long voyages in various environments. As a result, vessel size overall increased. They increased for capacity. With more capacity meant more storage of food supplies, and cargo that fueled world trade and developed economies across the world. More cargo space meant more money to be made, and often made it worthwhile to send vessels farther distances for profit (sending a small vessel to the East Indies, besides being more difficult, also might not make enough profit to make the venture worthwhile). From a Navy ship perspective, larger vessels with more capacity meant more guns and ability to store more food/supplies to stay out of port longer. As for how the ship designs changed themselves, besides size, while the sixteenth century witnessed large fore and aft castles that operated as fighting platforms - the seventeenth century saw lower profiles that practically made the forecastle disappear. The castles fore and aft weren't as needed as the proper gun decks below along each side. Other developments included sail plans that contained more sails. Again - this is extreme generalizing since this subject is not that simple.

With the development of more wider ranging sea-going commerce by sea, the more maritime powers invested in protecting this shipping. The powers of Europe also had to protect far away colonies from attack, requiring ships of force and ships that could make the travel to these far of places. Instead of requisitioning civilian vessels temporarily for wartime use, now purpose-built warships became the standard. Standing navies (as in a permanent set of Navy vessels around in peace and war) became a standard. Some civilian vessels still became purchased into Navy service, but it was no longer the predominant practice. Conducting warfare at sea against your enemies became so important that providing commissions to private vessels to hunt enemy commerce became heavily used by the European powers. Ships cost a lot of money, so a government can only afford to build and maintain so many vessels, and since a government wants to inhibit their opponents as much as possible, the use of privateers as commissioned "private men of war" allowed to hunt enemy commerce increased greatly. Meanwhile, the navies of European powers tried their best to build and deploy more vessels than their opponents with more powerful (and more numerous) artillery. In the sixteenth century, Spain had strong commanding fleets, but the seventeenth century saw England, France, and the Dutch overtake them. Though, at the very end of the seventeenth century, France showed signs of weakening as investment into their Navy weakened, and the Dutch fell from their position as the hegemonic maritime power. This would eventually lead to the British taking the lead role for European maritime power in the eighteenth century.

Hopefully that answers your questions. For sources that may lead to a better understanding of this kind of subject, I find that the best author that balances between really good quality scholarship and availability on book shelves is the work of Brian Lavery. His works include a 2 volume work called The Ship of the Line, another book called *The Line of Battle: The Sailing Warship 1650-1840 , a good social history of the men in the Navy called "Royal Tars, and the book The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War, 1600-1815.