Q&A: the most powerful pirate ship

What was the most powerful ship operated by a pirate rather than a privateer?

It is debatable: Blackbeard is a strong candidate, but the answer depends on how Ottoman-connected fleets are classified.

No single ranking is secure because the legal category changes the candidate list. Blackbeard is an obvious case of a powerful pirate operator. Ottoman-connected fleets create the harder boundary because the same force can be described as pirate, privateer, or part of a state navy depending on the source and period. The answer turns on how maritime violence was authorized and classified as much as any one ship statistic.