How would a pirate carry six pistols?  And a cutlass?  AND a boarding axe?!?!  By examining period illustrations, these questions are answered in Some Observations on the Methods by Which Pirates Carry'd Weapons, With Illustrations.

What did pirates really have?  What sorts of weapons?  Clothing?  What was in the galley?  Pirate reenactors always come back to these basic questions.  A List of Artifacts Recovered from The Wreck of the Pirate Ship Whydah sheds a tiny bit of light on the subject.