I visited the Blackbeard museum on Cape Hattaras a few years ago. Seems amazing that anybody would survive the close-quarters melee of a boarding raid. Someone like Teach (Blackbeard) would get to fire eight pistol shots during the course of a raid and that would be it, since there would be no time to reload. Just grab pistol, fire it, drop it, grab next one, fire, drop, etc. If you survive and win, you can pick up all the pistols afterward; if not, your pistols will be the least of your worries.
Winner takes all