Pirates used many strategies to capture ships or cities.
Generally, they preferred small, light, fast and maneuverable boats to heavy merchant galleons or military buildings heavily equipped with guns. Thus, the pirates embarked few guns for the benefit of a maximum of men in order to carry out lightning attacks, effective and disappeared as quickly with the booty. Indeed, the pirates were often former sailors and had a seasoned skill in the art of maneuvering a ship but also proved to be formidable fighters, wielding preferably the cutlass and the cutlass. Pirates could approach their prey pretending to be merchants in peril and lull the wariness of the targeted crew so they could approach without fear of merchant cannon fire. The pirates close enough to the target ship then hoisted the black flag, moored to the prey to prevent it from fleeing and boarded it.
However, the pirates were able to muster veritable armies and fleets to attack powerful cities like Cartagena where the Spanish stored New World gold for a year. Thus Drake seized Cartagena in 1586, L'Olonais sacked the towns of Maracaïbo and Gilbraltar. We even see Edward Vernon besieging Cartagena with 186 ships, 2,000 cannons and 25,000 men in 1741.
We recognize in the pirate a formidable and versatile adversary, capable of adapting to any type of situation, and at ease both on land and at sea. The pirate was therefore unpredictable and constituted a threat to powers otherwise more stronger than him!