Does anyone know what the largest pirate vessel of this time period was,in terms of firepower.

Also, is there a kit of this ship available?

Thanks

Couldn't give any particulars, just know they generally were built for quickness and had a fairly good set of guns. Probably more akin to a battlecrusier like the Graf Spee. More power than a merchantman but able to run from a frigate or larger

From what little I've read the whole concept of pirates being looking for a fight is pure Hollywood. Pirates wanted something fast and non-threatening so they could take their prey quickly and without alarming them ahead of time. Most of the time they would have a small ship, maybe a brig or schooner. Certainly nothing like a frigate or ship of the line. Another thing that was prized was being able to row the ship so they could take prizes that were becalmed.

Thanks for the info.

I was wondering because I wanted to build an authentic pirate ship for my son.

Build a small ship in larger scale, then, to make it a big one!!! Just kidding! I have the information from good sources that the pirates used agile ships, which could catch the speed of fastest ships. If you have the chance, you should check the related programs in History Channel. I will look for some information from my books and if I find any, I will post it. I remember I had some relevant information about the subject in my maritime books related to the frigate USS Constitution. I do not promise for a result, but promise I will check my documents.

Go here for an excellent rundown of Pirate ships: The Vessels - Pirate Ships

Thanks again for the info!!

While speed and agility were neccesary to catch up to or run away from other ships, not all the pirate ships were small. Take for instance the La Siren a french 64 gun ship of the line. A very large pirate ship. Believe she was lost when an earthquake sank the harbor of I think port a Prince? Or something like that. According to what I've read there were several large ships there at the time. All lost.