Helpful?

Cost
Base cost of the ship. You trade in the value of your current ship when changing ships.

Hull Integrity
The health pool of your ship. This number can increase by a flat +22 with upgrades.

Keel Depth
How deep under the water your ship is suspended. Determines which reefs you can safely cross.

Speed
Base speed of your ship. The Seamanship Skill will increase this number by a flat +1 per point investment. Ship upgrades seem to increase this by a percentage of the base by about 20-30%

Ram Damage
Pretty simple. How much damage you do with your Ram damage. This doesn't include secondary effects, like the Hellship's burning effect.

Oilskins
Prevents influenza in your crew.

Harpoons
Allows you to catch fish or fight sea monsters. When catching fish, you only lose harpoons when you miss.

Food
Total food capacity.

Luxuries
Total luxury capacity, which are chiefly used for making you money. Buy low, sell high. New York has a high value for luxuries.

Cannons
Number of cannon shots you can take before you're hampered by your reload speed, which is dependent on how many crew members you have and your Reloading skill.

Cannonballs
Effectively your total damage capacity.

Speed*Luxury
This simple function is to help give you an idea which ships are ideal for trading luxuries.