New Player Seeking Advice

Hi, I'm Mazou. So I plan on buying Naval Action tomorrow and I figured I'd stop by and ask a few questions.

1. Does each Nation have some sort of special ship you can acquire or are they all similar?

2)I'm going to be starting alone since none of my friends seem interested in the game right now. What's the best way to begin my life on the High Seas alone?

3)Is Trading and Crafting something I MUST do or is it like World of Warcraft where I can just buy what I need from other people?

That's about it, but any advice you guys could give me would be very much appreciated! And thanks in advance!