How different did an ordinary merchant ship look?

How different did a normal merchant ship look from an East Indiaman?

Its basic style and structure could be quite similar, but East India Company paint made the larger ships look more deliberately naval.

Ordinary merchant ships and East Indiamen could have much the same basic style and structure. The East India Company's paint schemes made its ships look more deliberately like Royal Navy vessels. Together with the largest ships' size and apparent gunports, that helped create a convincing naval impression. The commercial hull remained a merchant ship despite its appearance.