Catch and release

Congratulations to the Dutch Navy, whose sailors rappelled down from a Lynx helicopter under covering fire and retook the freighter Taipan from pirates. The pirates didn’t resist, and indeed why would they have bothered? They were taken into custody aboard the frigate Tromp, which last month released 33 pirates captured in similar circumstances. Two hundred years ago, pirates were summarily hanged by whoever took them prisoner. Now that we have the United Nations to take care of our international problems, no one is sure who has jurisdiction over pirates, so the general principle is catch-and-release. Blue skies! – Dan Ford