It's not the pirates, it's the lack of bad stuff if you choose to be one.
It would make life at least a bit fair, if you put a few unsinkable ships near
ferrydocks that automatically attacked pirates. And disallow pirates from
using public harbours, like the ones in ferrydocks/major cities.
I'd like to think that pirates are fine, as long as they have something to
worry about from being one. As it is, they really have even less of a chance
of sinking than us regular shipcaptains. And the fact that only higher end
players play them, makes us even unable to retaliate with pkills etc.