I should point out that pirates rarely went after other ships.  Ships that were plunder worthy were often well protected.  More often then not pirates went ashore​, traveling two or three days by foot and attacked towns and villages "on the way back".  The key thing there was "on the way back" because the local militia would be called in and the pirates would run back to their ship and sail away while the militia was stuck on the shore shaking their fists with anger and unable to follow.