The Royal Navy is to be given special powers to tackle the pirate menace in the Gulf of Aden. Not since the days of Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, has the Senior Service engaged with buccaneers. But the problem is now so rife that the navy will be able to seize and arrest suspected pirates who have been targetting yachts as well as ships.

In the latest issue of YM we tell the shocking story of a French navy raid on a 53ft yacht which had been snatched by Somali pirates who were holding a cruising couple to ransom.

A Royal Navy warship is already part of a task force in the area.