Because your ship can also carry cargo, you may wish to stock up on products such as tobacco, indigo, cannon balls, and luxury items. You trade these items for silver or other goods at the local supply store, located in every major city across the Caribbean. A typical journey finds you patrolling the waters off the coast of a Caribbean island, looking for those fat merchant vessels on which to prey. After boarding the vessel and a brief sword fight, you get the booty of the plundered vessel. You'll need seek shelter to repair the damage to your vessel during the melee.
Trading stolen goods works fine, but the game is deeper than that.
Each island paradise produces certain goods and needs others. By skillfully buying cheap goods at one port and selling them for a profit at another, you increase your supply of silver and ability to buy more goods. The ship is beautifully drawn with plenty of detail. Piloting the ship is as simple as pointing in the direction you wish to travel. If you want to go upwind, you must tack and progress is slowed.