Monday
For some reason, my home turf of East Anglia will not stay off the news
For sale: the world's smallest country with its own flag, stamps, currency and passports.
Apply to Prince Michael of Sealand if you want to run your own storm-tossed nation - even if it is just a wartime fort perched on two concrete towers in the North Sea.
Built in World War Two as an anti-aircraft base against German bombers, the derelict platform was taken over 40 years ago by retired army major Paddy Roy Bates who went to live there with his family.
Sealand, which is based off Felixstowe, one of Europe's largest container ports, has in its time been raided by the authorities, who have been at their wits' end to know what to do about the feisty Bates family. The place has even featured as an inspiration for people trying to harness encryption to make new forms of offshore banking possible, although I suspect that after 9/11, it will become impossible for a place like this to carry out totally private banking operations without countries such as Britain taking fairly robust action.
Even so, in his way, Bates has been a bit of a hero. He has established one of the longest-running 'private nations' on the planet in recent history. I wish him and his family the best.
This website is worth a read for material about offshore communities. And of course do not forget the Free State Project.
For those interested, their official website is here:
Posted by andrewdb at January 9, 2007 07:15 AM
Not sure the wife (to be) would be too keen on living out there. An interesting prospect though to be sure but gales on that place must be fun.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge at January 9, 2007 09:20 AM
I could kick myself for never seeking out additional knowledge of Sealand - or at least a glimpse of the same - whilst stationed at RAF Bentwaters (which as you surely know is not far from Felixstowe and surrounding communities.)
Posted by James at January 9, 2007 01:52 PM
Caveat emptor: they had a pretty big fire last June. (Link)
Posted by Rob Spear at January 9, 2007 03:16 PM
James, what did you do at Bentwaters? Did you fly on the A-10s - known as the tankbusters? One of my cousins-in-law is an engineer who used to serve there and is now in Iraq.
Posted by Johnathan Pearce at January 9, 2007 04:39 PM
Jonathan,
Wasn't that known as the warthog? Tankbusting is a job, not a personality.
We used to get them up and down the Waveney Valley in my youth. Very little call for tankbusting there, Roydon fen being poor tank-country, as the Red Army almost certainly knew, but I suppose good hedgehopping practice.
Posted by guy herbert at January 9, 2007 05:09 PM
Yes, in my youth, in the same Waveney valley area - near the town of Bungay, where I went to school - a game of cricket would be made a bit louder by the sight of Tornado jets or US aircraft screaming over. As kids, we naturally thought this was great and could not understand why older people complained to the local RAF bases to moan.
Anyway, I think we are drifting off topic. Back to Sealand and private nations!
Posted by Johnathan at January 9, 2007 05:18 PM
Johnathan -
I worked in logistics; specifically, I was a member of BW's (USAF) Transportation Squadron. I was not a pilot. My flight time on military aircraft was therefore accrued as a passenger only.
Guy is technically correct -- the A-10's recognized nickname was/is Warthog, but "tankbuster" occupies a solid 2nd Place. Powered by two non-afterburing turbofan engines, the A-10 is actually a very quiet aircraft.
As you played cricket in Bungay, and depending on your age in the late 1980s, perhaps I flew over you in a C-130 during a crew rotation flight.
Good times. I miss Bentwaters. I miss England.
-James
Posted by James at January 9, 2007 06:12 PM
An interesting prospect though to be sure but gales on that place must be fun.
Didn't you live in Manobier for a time, Andrew? The Atlantic gales there would have primed you nicely!
Posted by Tim Newman at January 9, 2007 11:47 PM
While, obviously, putting in a bid for the entire country of Sealand is beyond the means of most of the Samizdatistas (and certainly beyond this member of the commentariat) you can for 20 quid buy a title from the Sealand Government...
It is sure to make a unique gift and if it results in a single airline upgrade in your entire life will have proved a sound investment.
20 quid! I'll have two! And to think some idiots were giving Tony and Co bloody millions for the same thing...
Posted by Nick M at January 11, 2007 02:49 PM
