You could do much worse than a royal navy 5th rate frigate. This was because they often worked independently from the fleet hunting enemy merchant ships, meaning that there was plenty of prize money to be had if you were fortunate enough to catch them. They were comparable to a WWII era armored cruiser, and carried around 40 guns. They were the second smallest "rated ship" of the Royal Navy during this time.

In terms of survival rate, you wouldn't exactly be safe aboard one (it is the 18th century aboard a sailing ship, after all), but the theory behind a 5th rate was that it could out fight ships that were faster than it, and out run anything that outgunned it. I'm not positive how this always played out, but I doubt being fast and well armed would play against you in most cases. It's also significant that you would be less likely to be involved in a large fleet to fleet engagement.

Most of this information comes from "To Rule the Waves" by Arthur Herman, with minor details by Wikipedia.

A lot of knowledgable redditors at r/tallships if you would like to post there as well.

I'd much rather be on a successful whaler or an Indiaman than a Royal Navy ship. The crews of whalers and merchantmen made much more money that the 1 pound, 5 schillings, 6 pence per month of an ordinary seaman on a RN vessel. A very profitable whaling voyage could net a sailor hundreds of dollars/pounds. Now if the frigate could take prizes then the seamen could do well, but this was not often the case. Even looking at the break down of prize shares (2/8th share split among all able & ordinary seamen, landsmen, and ship's boys), seamen didn't receive much.

Additionally, they didn't have to face the brutal punishments that seamen on RN ships. Flogging was the most common punishment for major infractions, however "starting"(getting hit with a cane or boot) was a tactic for getting men to work.