*bows deeply to the lady, brushing the deck with the feathers of his wide-brimmed hat*
Comes from years of naval wargaming, tbh. It's amazing how many facts you can store in the deepest recesses of your memory when you're actually playing a game!
To get back on topic, you realize of course that no pirate worth his or her salt would ever go toe to toe with a man-o-war? The potential rewards from such a fight would never offset the losses you would have to take. So, of course pirates would have to resort to sneaky and underhanded methods when dealing with this kind of threat... I'm thinking fireships around 3am when the big bad is anchored in a "safe" harbour...