This is just a little something I thought of while boating around. Something to add a little depth (no pun intended) and things to do in the game.
1) Add a "Knotted Rope/Lead Line" to Inventory
A player can use the rope over the side of a vessel to get a speed reading in knots. The secondary effect is to use it as a sounding line to get a depth measurement.
This would give us something to do and get a reading on how well we are sailing using the wind and whether we are getting too shallow.
2) Depth
One of the drawbacks to this game, in my opinion, is the Sloop vs Galleon. The purpose of a sloop in piracy was that it could go places larger ships couldn't due to it's shallow draft. Pirates would escape pursuit by using shallow waters of the Bahamas and such where large vessels could not go.
I would like to see the game add differing depths and ship drafts to the game. Add some shallow reef systems and shallow passes that larger ships can't get through and have to go around.
Further, as you add cargo - your ship sits deeper in the water. Something a trained eye should be able to see (and thus help us determine if a ship has plunder). But a heavily laden Galleon should sit deep in the water and run the risk of beaching the big behemoth ... whereas a Sloop shouldn't run that risk to the same degree.
This would make the sounding line important.
