Ship Basics 101
A book that details ship basics and mechanics of ships.
VICTORY
To defeat a ship, you either reduce the hull to 0 or the crew to 0. To defeat a 0 crew ship, you need to board it, a 0 crew ship won't be defeated (0 crew just means most are injured, not dead)
A ship that has 0 hull is destroyed, there is no chance of recovery.
DAMAGE
For every 10 crew, 1 cannon
So a sloop has 80 crew = 8 cannons = 8 shots
While a Galleon might have 200 crew = 20 cannons = 20 shots
Each cannon is around 3 damage, not all ships have 3 damage cannons though.
The benefit of smaller ships being able to outrun the bigger ones allows sloops to buildup speed outside. But remember that bigger ships can still shoot smaller ones with a longer range, so you'll still take damage even as far as you get.
A sloop has effective 8 Range and 10 meter distance
While a Galleon can have up to effective 8 range and 20 meter distance
The distance is how far shots can go, and the maximum range. Cannons firing at distance are reduced for every meter, so galleons would do 1/3rd damage at 20 meters.
You cannot fire chainshots and grapeshots with distance, only range
CREW DAMAGE
If a crew is killed the cannon is subtracted. This means the number of shots a ship does is reduced. These shots are further modified by ship modifier and crew max
A sloop with 80 crew does more damage at full crew
Fire Shells and Poison Shells are unaffected.
Grapeshots reduce crew based on how big the ship is, with Galleons suffering more crew damage than a sloop..
SAIL DAMAGE
Speed is damaged by chain shots, it reduces the speed by 10%. Sloops and smaller ships which rely on speed are affected more by chain shots than bigger ships, which don't rely on dodge to avoid shots.
Sail damage permanently damages move speed, so even if you reach maximum speed, your movement will be reduced. This effect is less on larger ships.
HULL DAMAGE
The most basic damage, hull damage is always a problem. Bigger ships have stronger hulls while smaller ships have weaker ones. There is never a scenario a sloop can defeat a Galleon on its own (Unless kiting). It may get out of effective range, but the Galleon has enough damage to destroy a sloop.
In ship battles the bigger ship the better, this is just a fact of fielding better ships.