Former pirate and captain of the Guardship, Thomas Marlowe is now a man of property with a prosperous tobacco plantation in Virginia and a beautiful wife, Elizabeth.   But the Anglo-Spanish war has caused a decline in tobacco prices and Thomas decides to come to England to trade his wares, never thinking that in the busy streets of London, he will meet an old enemy from his pirating days.  Forced to abandon his tobacco and flee, he takes to sea and finds himself in a battle with the ships bound for the Moghul Empire. In Madagascar, he at last comes face to face with his pirate foes.