September 18 movie: Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Were we the last two people in America to see this movie? We thought so, but there were 6 other people in the theater, so I guess not. Anyway, I went in with very low expectations as far as plot, character, etc. All I wanted from the movie was a fun adventure with lots of buckles being swashed, and I got that. I enjoyed it very much and I'm glad we saw it on the big screen.
It was fun to watch this after having read all those books about the British Navy, because I knew so much more of the lingo than the first time. I was like, "letter of marque! I know what that is!" It was kind of strange though, to watch a movie in which the pirates are rough around the edges but basically good guys, the Navy are the bad guys, and the East India company are the really bad guys. I only remember pirates showing up once in the Aubrey-Maturin series, and they come off like scary sons of bitches.
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What is "the letter of marque"?
I haven't seen the movie, either. So consider yourselves not quite the last in line. Unless you want to be, of course :-)
A letter of marque was a legal privateer. It had permission from the British government to attack enemy ships (though not of course British ships or their allies), and no British Navy ship could harm them, take their supplies or press their crew. In the movie they called the document giving this permission the letter of marque, but in the book The Letter of Marque it referred to the ship. Probably it meant both in real life.