found it! this list might not be up to date though.
ship's list (not complete, but with all the base types and several special types):
tartane - basic ship, no guns, little crew (5 or so) and cargo space of 50 cwt. decent speed, approx. 12 knots.
gunboat - excellent boarding ship, max. 11 or 12 crew, 12 knots, 5 cannons (no stern cannons) very high manuevrability, extremely hard to hit, more hp than the tartane. adventurous ship for experienced players.
war tartane - no bow or stern cannons, but 4 on the left and right. a good deal more hp than the gunboat, faster, and more crew.
the first two types have a rather unusual way of steering. unlike all the other ships, these have only one sail, so 'full sail' is max. speed, half manuevrability (as normal). 'battle sails' has no speed, but full manuevrability. with those ships, go under full sail to gain speed, and use battle sails to make tight turns, after which you hoist the sail again.
yacht - smallest trade vessel. 14 knots (i think. that would likely be the fastest type) quite a lot hp for such a small vessel, decent amount of guns and a pretty large cargo space. not such a good boarding vessel.
barque - slower than the yacht, 11/12 knots, but with more guns and PLENTY of hp. decent cargo space and crew. bad boarding vessel. i tried this ship once, and it was horrible trying to board.
lugger - not that much hp, actually pretty fragile in my opinion, but very light, fast and manuevrable. good pirate ship and boarding vessel, but one tap from ramming and it sinks or is badly damaged. 12 cannons and a decent cargo space.
there are many types of luggers, but all of them are roughly the same. the lugger VML is without doubt the best detailed, and is a bit sturdier than most luggers.
now come the sloop types, which are basically an upgrade from the luggers and a good target.
cutter - similar to the lugger, but a lot more agile. it's basically just differently rigged. perfect target to board with a gunboat, and i usually do. this is the target you often get from the early pirate missions. this is the most agile ship in the enitre game, so not that easy to board. they are really light, so you can afford ramming them, even with a gunboat. strangely enough, there are two types of cutter, but they both have the same name.
sloop - a rather big ship, but it has only one mast and thus vulnerable. has the same armament as the barque, 16 guns. pretty fast and a good cargo space. pretty good amount of crew as well. next step to schooners and the like.
bermuda sloop - one of my favorites, very fast ship, and surprisingly agile for such a ship. extremely high, so it will loose it's only mast pretty fast. great details. lightly armed, but the cannon caliber is really high for it's class.
ketch - two masted sloop, and thus a lot less vulnerable. it's a good deal faster than the sloop, in fact, a fast ship overall.
galeoth - i rarely use these, but they're not bad. basically a pretty well armed fast trading ship. better than the lugger. there's also the gaff-boom galeoth, which i've never used, but is somewhat like a large two-masted cutter. just like the cutter, there are two different ones, one of which has a cabin.
xebec - do not underestimate this ship! very well armed (high caliber, and lots of 'em), fast and agile ship. very popular with pirates. not to big cargo space, though. good hp. there's also the gaff-rigged xebec, which is highly unusual, and i've never tried it before.
aaah! the schooners! now whe're getting somewhere! believe me, you can be truly proud of these ships.
schooner - two masted, very long in comparison to it's width and thus extremely fast ship. absolutely beautiful. very well armed, lots of guns on each side, plenty of hp, (it can take a broadside from a frigate, and that says something) and lots of crew. it's the perfect pirate ship, and as a result, it doesn't have a lot of cargo space. chainshot is inessesary with these ships, as nothing can outrun them. because they are so long, they don't have as much manuevrability as other ships, though.
war schooner - slightly more butch than your avarage schooner, but the same hull. more hp, but less speed. i think it has more crew and a higher cannon caliber as well.
fast schooner - this is the one to get! fastest ship in the entire game. has got the least hp of all the schooners, but it's speed more than makes up for it. what use is hp when you're to fast to get hit? one warning though: loose a mast, and surrender. the fastest fast schooner i ever had could do 19.57 knots.
now come the brigs. these are rather slow trade vessels, and perfect targets with any ship type. all brigs are around 12 knots. brigs are all rather heavily armed, so be aware.
16 gun brig - basically a brig-rigged galeoth, combining the two.
20 gun brig - brig-rigged schooner. pretty fast, but not so dangerous as it might seem.
shnyava - another, but very wierd looking, 20 gun brig. i don't know a thing about these, except that they tend to sink after you broadside 'em with a big ship.
brig - lots of cargo space, slow, and quite a lot hp. 24 cannons, so whatch out. these are sturdy ships, so they are more likely to surrender after a serious beating than to sink.
packet brig - more cargo space, i guess. has a lifeboat attached to the end of it, so i figure that it must have more crew.
brigantine - fastest of the brigs, and are pretty dangerous. it can sail, in realistic sailing mode, closer to the wind as well.
now come several trading vessels, they are primarily targets.
caravel - there is, without any doubt at all, not a more crappy ship than this one! EXTREMELY slow, in fact the slowest ship, with a speed of 8 knots, but it's really well armed for a trade ship. lots of hp, and an amazing amount of cargo space.
fleut/flute - it's the floating sea-banana! pretty slow with 11 knots, and lightly armed, but they have the biggest cargo space in comparison to their size, except for maybe the pinnace. has a tendency to loose it's masts, and is pretty clumsy. in fact, it's so high, than you can hardly miss it! pretty hard to chase though, as it's really narrow.
fleut of war - a lighter and faster version of the fleut, making up for it's bad qualities pretty well.
pinnace - absolutely HUGE ship, truly menacing from a distance, but it has more bark than bite. has only 8 cannons on the left and right, two on front (which all ships have, except one), but, no less than 6 on the rear! very hard to chase a result. it is actually a really well designed trade ship. has a massive amount of hp, and a truly huge cargo space, but pretty slow and sluggish. however, don't get in front of it or you're history. they'll crush anything in their path, unless it's bigger.
pinnace of war - basically the same system as the fleut of war.
waller pinnace - one of the more peculiar creations. nice color sceme and a huge amount of cannons, but can only have 4 pound cannons. designed to use chainshot, and not to sink enemies. a run-away ship.
no, there will probably never come an end to this post.
galleon - not bad actually, but slow. lots and lots of hp, and a really big amount of cannons. it can handle a high cannon caliber as well. a real monstrosity, and it's even bigger than the pinnace, and dangerous to boot. lots and lots of crew. 300 to 400, i think. 38 cannons
treasure galleon - need i say more? more cargo space, thus a more tempting target. but do so at your own peril!
war galleon - now THIS is a good ship! 14 knots, so it can compete with most other ships for speed. more hp as well. i think it has a bigger cannon caliber too. all galleons have 4 stern cannons. i think that this one has 40 cannons.
now come the ship that are my favorites and are mainly warships. they are commonly used by pirates and a true threat. jeez, i never realized how many ships there actually where.
corvette - aye, this is the one you want! a really fast ship for it's size, 32 cannons, and the first good ship with 4 stern cannons. pretty nice to look at too. not that much crew, but that cuts down the food supply. which is nesessary, as it doesn't have that much cargo space. in return, it has a good deal of hp. really agile.
pirate corvette - extremely rare. can be obtained in two quests. it's a corvette converted by pirates, and thus very fast, even faster than the others. can do at least 16 knots. more agile too, and it has a higher cannon caliber, that of 24 pounds.
fast merchantman - i know, it's a trader, but it IS a corvette. in fact, it's an ex-navy ship, with the lower cannond removed to change the cannon deck into a cargo deck. very little cannon's, but lots of cargo space. (i think you have a regular merchantman as well, by the way)
east-indiaman - another one of those corvettes. i'm not sure, but i think that this is the 'Amsterdam'. heavily armed trader.
now come the big boys. these are the ship you're after later on in the game.
frigate - 44 cannons, and really dangerous to small ships. pretty fast and agile for such a beast, and has LOTS of hp. about 4000. plenty of crew, and pretty much cargo space to feed it.
light frigate - basically a corvette, but with much improved stats to fit in the frigate class.
heavy frigate - just more of the good stuff. except cannons. impressive resistance to broadsides.
lineship - high, narrow at the stern, big ship with a lot of hp. i've seen them with as much as 7000. 40 cannons, and 300 to 400 crew. good cargo space, but not that much.
warship - basically, um...a floating brick with versailles palace stuck to the end of it. most hideous thing EVER! not to mention to color of the bloody thing! anyway, it has lots of hp and guns, although i don't know how much. it's more than the lineship, but it is slower.
heavy warship - a rather nutty thing, but pretty impressive firepower. no less than 74 cannons! imagine that many cannons stuck to the hull of a lineship with the rigging of a warship. that's a heavy warship.
now come the fun ships. big, bad, and noisy. don't worry, you've nearly had them.
battleship - 70 guns, 10000 hp, lots of cargo space, 700 crew (although i think it's less) and something to stay faaaar away from! 4 stern cannons, and extremely unlikely to flee. even rarer than the manowar. slow and steers like a truck. good ship to take on the smaller forts.
escalated battleship - surprisingly beautiful for such a beast. it's a bit more powerful than the regular battleship, but not much.
light manowar - 84 cannons, and the only ship with 4 bow cannons. has 8 stern cannons. a rather nice feature of this ship is the possibility to go below-decks while still on the ship through a big hole in the deck. approx. 15000 hp and 1000 crew that eats 10 wheat and 5 rum a day at normal rations. cargo space of 5800 tons or so. although this may be called the light manowar, it is actually HEAVIER than the regular one. goes just under 12 knots.
manowar - the king of ships. so incredibly huge you can still see it through your spyglass at a distance of 2000 yards. there's absolutely no way around them. if you see one, your first idea would be to run like hell, and then realise that you can board it. if you do, you have the ultimate weapon of mass-destruction. has 15000 hp, 100 cannons, a max. caliber of 42 (those are fort cannons!) 1000 crew, and it goes just above 12 knots. note: most of this amount of crew is mainly cannon fodder. it's back-up for your skeleton crew of 300+. you also have a ship of the line, which is faster, has less hp, but basically the same as the manowar.
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