Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century: The Art of Sailing Warfare by Sam Willis might be worth a look, I got it from my local library. It's perhaps more of an overview and covers quite a lot of ground but is quite thought provoking.

His research is from Ships log books and Court Martial enquiries. One thing I found interesting was a discussion on how 2 British ships came to fire on each other based on the way they were being sailed, neither was certain if the other was actually British even though they were very close. I believe both Captains were exonerated because their assesment of the situation meant they made the right decission in firing on a friendly ship based upon the others sailing actions.

I didn't buy it because it wasn't specific enough for what I was looking for but was a good read.

Has anyone else read it?