Jack Aubrey is a naval officer, a post-captain of experience and capacity. When 'The letter of Marque' opens he has been struck off the Navy list for a crime he has not committed. With Aubrey is his friend and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also an unofficial British intelligence agent. Maturin has bought for Aubrey his old ship, the 'Surprise' as a 'private man-of-war'. Together, they sail on a voyage which, if successful, might restore Aubrey to the rank, and the raison d'etre whose loss he so much regrets.