2 Difernt info on same ship

[Runesword]

I dont know if this a bug or what so will just tell the story and what was seen,

 

A friend and myself just got done with capturing a trader snow, I exit the battle while he was dealing with the loot that he got.  After i was in the open world for about 30 secs, a ship spawned next to me and all it said was trader on it.  I click on it to attack but it says i will be a pirate if i did, so of course i didnt, now my friend gets out of battle and see same ship and on his screen he is seeing a French ship with couterband on it and he can attack it, so he attacks and i join him.

 

so my question is, is this normal to see 2 different info on same ship or is this a bug? and if i did attack it first would that made me a pirate?

[Runesword]

so i take it i will not get a reply to this