I'm writing a historical mystery novel set in piracy's golden age, and I'm having a hard time with the ships. In my novel, the antagonist is apart of a pirate crew in command of a Sixth Rate, all of them deserters from the Royal Navy, which is why I chose a Sixth Rate. Also, a Sixth Rate, from what I read, is smaller than a frigate, but bigger than a sloop, or brig. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I have a hard time judging the size of a ship from pictures. I'd really like to see one up close and personal, but this is the modern age, with fast cars and advanced cell phones, so such a thing is unlikely. I know pirates never really took a shine to big, lumbering ships like galleons, but we know Blackbeard had the 40-gun Queen Anne's Revenge, which has to be pretty big.
My trouble is this: is a Sixth Rate, crewed by deserters of the Royal Navy, an inaccurate use of ship for what I'm trying to do, and what ship would be the most accurate to take it on? I don't know if sloops would do, or brigs, an East Indiaman? That is my trouble.
Thank you in advance of answering. This is my favorite time period, but I don't know everything that there is to know. I appreciate any serious answer to this post. Also, I want something that isn't totally inaccurate, like Pirates of the Caribbean type ships going at but, something that is realistic. I'm willing to make changes, so as to keep things as real as possible.
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your novel, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists, based on past experience: some aspiring novelists have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.