Could use some advice on a high-seas module.

[Excession]

I do this a lot. I've always wished there was a category halfway between Standard and Minion.

I've played around with using half monsters. Something like half the hit points, and three fifths or two thirds the damage. They fill up the battle mat nicely, and players can thin their numbers out fairly fast to reduce incoming damage.

For two-hit minions, you could also add a damage threshold that will kill them with one hit, to favour PCs with large single-target damage. Also, IIRC there is one printed minion that has a 50% chance to not die the first time it is hit.