I think there's a bug where Stumps (and others) are reluctant to counterattack on occasion.
If you use your Pistol and keep your distance, they are less likely to counterattack.
A real pirate would take advantage of this glitch.
I suspect they will fix this quickly. (The server is down now for me so I hope they are doing an upgrade and I'm not locked out. I can't test that this counterattack glitch is still in effect).
Peace,
evb.