Most pirates were actually privateers. They were paid by either (mostly) English, French, or Spanish crowns. There were Portuguese and Dutch aswell obviously but these were major powers. Privateers were not outlaws to their native land, many like Captain Morgan, actually went on to be higher ups like nobles or politicians. These ships, on paper, were sent out to keep the currently held oceans, islands, and land. Under the table they were also meant to take gold for their crown and combat enemies. This meant a lot of the fighting wasnt pirate vs crown it was crown versus crown. Some of these ships walked the line of legal and illegal but for the most part their natives governments across the sea didn’t mind most of what they did. These “pirates” had paid for nice ships supplies by men back home and soldiers and sailors of european nations to work them.

Real pirates came when those same men were unfairly paid, treated, or disappointed in general. They’d host a mutiny. They’d take their own ship under their own hands, sometimes keeping the captain and all crew, sometimes not. They’d usually make a “code” they’d follow and they’d fight other ships for a living. This was the majority of the case for the real “pirates” who were outlaws. From here ships could be captured and the most famous pirates had fleets. The largest fleet was actually a Chinese ex prostitute in china and southeast Asia, but I’m assuming you are focusing on Caribbean and new world pirates, so for example the famous Blackbeard probably had over 30 ships in his career. Pirates would then steal or already have cannons and weapons for their ships. Most ships, especially sloops, would had more holes cut aswell fot more cannons. These crown ships under outlaw command also helped that one could see a “British” vessel and think friendly until last minute pirates could show themselves to be anything but. The most common ship was a sloop, actually smaller in the grand scheme of things, but speed and maneuverability was perfect for pirating. These ships could also go in deep and shallow waters unlike larger ships like Brigantines and schooners (these two are usually shown in pirate movies). The largest was a 150-250 person galleon, which wasn’t a common pirate vessel, but surely was feared by them.

The Average sloop crew for a crown trading vessel could have been around 15-30 men, but pirates could have up to 75, they would often stay on the more populated side. Ships meant for combat could have as many, but likely more than pirate vessels but most pirates (especially small crews) would want to keep away from military. These pirates could sail for days looking for another ship, they would target lightly armed trading vessels, not unlike their own. More often than not a pirate would take a ships cargo and make more money on that then they did the gold. Luggage like sugar, lumber, clothing, spices, and tobacco and liquor could be sold at port for a pay day.

Pirates would recruit in two ways. The first would be on land if you wanted to make money you join, but the second would be when seizing a ship. Pirates could take you on as a fellow sailor or kill you after they’ve boarded. Obviously being a pirate sounds better than death. This is how they maintained the ship. Between taking the supplies on board a seized vessel to eat and fix their ship, and taking the crew the man it. The men they looked for most were those would could make barrels, fix the boat, and navigate (which was hard at the time). Finding latitude based on the sun is easy, but trying to find longitude was much much harder, many of these men had no choice but become pirates as the crews needed those with intelligence.

Pirates would end up being a fearsome crew of sailors and soldiers on a ship often meant for trading. They boats guns and supplies were usually all pirated thus why they were a problem. There was at least one case where nations would allow pirates to turn themselves in and not be punished. With the vastness of undefended/explored ocean and land and cash crop trading pirates had it pretty decent for a good while. They could be in the tropics in the winter and take a cruise up north during the summer. As the new world was settled though pirating slowed down.