1. USS Kettering
2. Loki’s Revenge
3. Baba Yaga
4. Sister’s Rage
-Hate the ability but a very solid ship. Not sure if she should be this high though.
5. Le Coeur de Lion
-One of my favorite French ships and one of the best support gunships in the game.
6. Bilge
-Solid empty gold runner (or more with captain or Mycron aboard), and gets the nod over the next two just barely.
7. HMS Patagonia / El Afortunado
-Dirt cheap gold runners (S+S with 3 spaces at 6 points); the Patagonia would edge the tiebreaker with the infamous but important Administrator Scott Bratley / Robinson / Lord Mycroncheese combo of death. XD
8. USS Emerald
-This ability doesn’t work great on small ships due to ram damage, but the Emerald has the speed and cannons to take advantage of it, unlike the Santa Lucia in my opinion. If you have the points available, one of the only good American ships for Commodore David Porter .
9. Divine Dragon
-Can be devastating.
10. La Belle Poule
Just missed: HMS Rye
-Naturally a favorite of mine due to the faction and ability, but she can be sunk very quickly even in campaign games. Best to provide the proper support with helmsman/shipwright/oarsman so she can row at S+S when dismasted and possibly repair when she’s not busy cancelling important stuff. Also a reasonable empty gold runner. Just not amazing in smaller games.
Francesca and the Santa Lucia also just miss.
Other honorable mentions not mentioned yet: Salem , Sautez le Requin , Kalaallit , Kalmar
Honestly the Sautez should possibly be way up in the middle of the list. Tough to compare some of these ships! XD
To me HMS Superior is just boring as heck and a waste of points. I’d rather have HMS Hibernia , even just for artwork. 
Original thread on Miniature Trading