I believe the closest real life counterpart to the 4444 would be an 18th century "gunboat." (note, it is a "boat" not enough to be qualified as a true "ship" yet). The 4444, like a real gunboat, has mounting spots for 3 cannons: 1 each facing starboard and port, and one facing forward at the bow of the boat.
On an 18th century gunboat, the cannons were mounted on sliding rails so the guns could recoil and then be slid back into firing position after quick reloading. (which also means the guns' firing positions could not be adjusted left or right, only up and down, and depended on the orientation of the vessel in order to fire in the desired direction). There were also some small rail cannons that could be mounted as well.
As you can see in the above pic, the guns are mounted in the same spots as they can be mounted on the 4444 toy. These 1-masted vessels had no bowsprit, just like the 4444, and just one mast which most likely could be rigged with a lateen sail (like on the 4444), square-rigged, or could theoretically fly a gaff spanker combined with a small jib forward the mast. In either case, these boats in real life, much like 4444 itself, were flat-bottomed and small, which means they were very manuverable around shallow waters and, when used as a fleet of gunboats, were very effective in patrolling ports and guarding bigger, slower ships against attack.
The similarities between the 4444 design and actual 18th century gunboats is uncanny, so I am inclined to believe these are indeed one in the same.
Just for fun, though, I retrofitted my 5901 (ghost version of the 4444) to include a bowsprit, and I completely redid the mast and spars so I could accommodate two jibs, a spanker, and a square sail, completely shedding the stock lateen sail altogether. I belive the new British gunSHIP follows this rigging pattern (similar to the old playmobil sloop aka as "playmobil schooner" (which is technically incorrect) )
