Yes, but it involves a lot of prep work.

#1. Make sure you keep your nautical experience up even or ahead of your pirating experience. Either spend time fighting easier ships (which will also gets you other loot) or sending your companions out Sailin'.

#2. Purchase the highest level ship you can.

#3. Purchase the best ship equipment you can. Both this and the previous steps involve a lot of gold, yes, but having the best ship makes almost all the difference.

You then have several strategies you can use during battles.

a. Scout out your targets. Ships in a group will usually vary in level by 1-2 levels. Seek out the ones with lower levels.

b. Only go for ships on the fringes that come out a ways from the rest. This will prevent other enemy ships from entering the fight. Position your ship so your target is the only one that will enter your range.

c. Avoid using the ship repair ability (3 on your keyboard) until damage to your ship is about 20% of the total. Doing it sooner than that will waste repair points.

d. Do all your battling at long range (orange) rather than close range (red). This will allow you to back away from the ship you are attacking if and when your damage goes into yellow and the other ship begins to approach.

e. When you enter the yellow and the enemy ship begins to approach you, back away in a circular pattern, being careful not to enter the path of another enemy ship.

f. Worse comes to worst, use a blue yum to repair your ship and then stop immediately. The other ship will stop approaching once you are no longer in the yellow.