Wiktionary
n. 1 an official commission from a government authorizing someone to seize the property or people of another nation; especially to attack merchant shipping of another nation 2 (context nautical English) a ship that has been armed for such a task
WordNet
n. a license to a private citizen to seize property of another nation [syn: letters of marque, letter of mark and reprisal]
Wikipedia
In the days of fighting sail, a letter of marque and reprisal was a government license authorizing a person (known as a privateer) to attack and capture enemy vessels and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale. Cruising for prizes with a letter of marque was considered an honorable calling combining patriotism and profit, in contrast to unlicensed piracy, which was universally reviled. In addition to the term lettre de marque, the French sometimes used the term lettre de course for their letters of marque. "Letter of marque" was sometimes used to describe the vessel used: a "letter of marque" generally refers to a lumbering square-rigged cargo carrier that might pick up a prize if the opportunity arose. A "privateer" was a fast and weatherly fore-and-aft-rigged vessel heavily armed and heavily crewed, intended exclusively for fighting.
A "letter of marque and reprisal" would include permission to cross an international border to effect a reprisal (take some action against an attack or injury) authorized by an issuing jurisdiction to conduct reprisal operations outside its borders.
Usage examples of "letter of marque".
So bearing all this in mind, perhaps you would be well advised to refer to her as a private man-of-war, or if you find that disagreeable, as a letter of marque.
And there's at least a sense of semi-accountability to the government or revolutionary committee or whoever the hell issued their letter of marque in the first place.
And theres at least a sense of semi-accountability to the government or revolutionary committee or whoever the hell issued their letter of marque in the first place.
And most important of all, they are to be granted a special tax-free letter of marque from the New Crobuzon government, exempting the vessel, for a year, from prosecution or attack under New Crobuzon’.
Mark tried to imagine a detective-inspector bearing a letter of marque and reprisal.
Not so much HMS Surprise but Surprise as a letter of marque, sailing where she pleased and when she pleased, carrying on her private and effective war against the enemy as she saw fit, with a ship's company of picked hands, some of them very old friends indeed, all of them thoroughpaced seamen With such men, with such a status, and with such a second in command as Tom Pullings, there had been an easiness that could never be found in a King's ship nothing approaching a democracy, God forbid, but an atmosphere that made the regular Navy seem formal, starched, severe, and .
Not so much HMS Surprise but Surprise as a letter of marque, sailing where she pleased and when she pleased, carrying on her private and effective war against the enemy as she saw fit, with a ship's company of picked hands, some of them very old friends indeed, all of them thoroughpaced seamen With such men, with such a status, and with such a second in command as Tom Pullings, there had been an easiness that could never be found in a King's ship nothing approaching a democracy, God forbid, but an atmosphere that made the regular Navy seem formal, starched .
He was a wealthy man, the Doctor told me, and I think he owned the Franklin, but that was not clear: at all events he had no letter of marque though he or his skipper had preyed on our whalers and strictly I should have carried him back to England, where they would have hanged him for piracy.
If you do not submit that ship and its title to proper adjudication, I will have to consider your acquiring it as an act of privateering, which with possession of a letter of marque clearly makes you a privateer.