The Principality of Sealand is a micronation located on HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 10 km (six miles) off the coast of Suffolk, England.

Since 1967, the facility has been occupied by former radio broadcaster British Army Major Paddy Roy Bates; his associates and family claim that it is an independent sovereign state. External commentators generally classify Sealand as a micronation. It has been described as the world's best-known micronation. Sealand is not recognised as a sovereign state by any United Nations member. The United Kingdom has always asserted that Roughs Tower has always remained under its jurisdiction.

History

History of HM Fort Roughs

In 1942, during World War II, HM Fort Roughs was constructed by the United Kingdom as one of the Maunsell Forts, primarily for defence against German mine-laying aircraft that might be targeting the estuaries that were part of vital shipping lanes. It comprised a floating pontoon base with a superstructure of two hollow towers joined by a deck upon which other structures could be added. The fort was towed to a position above the Rough Sands sandbar, where its base was intentionally flooded to allow it to sink to its final resting place on the sandbar. The location chosen was in international waters, approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk, outside the then three-mile territorial water claim of the United Kingdom. The facility (called Roughs Tower or HM Fort Roughs) was occupied by 150–300 Royal Navy personnel throughout World War II; not until well after the war, in 1956, were the last full-time personnel taken off HM Fort Roughs.

Occupation by Roy Bates and the establishment of Sealand

On 2 September 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio broadcaster, who ejected a competing group of pirate broadcasters. Bates intended to broadcast his pirate radio station Radio Essex from the platform.

In 1968, the Royal Navy entered what Bates claimed to be his territorial waters in order to service a navigational buoy near the platform. Michael Bates (son of Paddy Roy Bates) tried to scare the workmen off by firing warning shots from the former fort. As Bates was a British subject at the time, he was summoned to court in England following the incident. The court ruled that as the platform (which Bates was now calling "Sealand") was outside British jurisdiction, being beyond the then three-mile limit of the country's waters, the case could not proceed. In 1975, Bates introduced a constitution for Sealand, followed by a flag, a national anthem, a currency and passports.

Forcible takeover

In 1978, while Bates was away, the Prime Minister of Sealand, Professor Alexander G. Achenbach, and several German and Dutch citizens led by Paul Trevisan staged a forcible takeover of Roughs Tower, holding Bates' son Michael captive, before releasing him several days later in the Netherlands. Bates thereupon enlisted armed assistance and, in a helicopter assault, retook the fortress. He then held the invaders captive, claiming them as prisoners of war. Most participants in the invasion were repatriated at the cessation of the "war", but Achenbach, a German lawyer who held a Sealand passport, was charged with treason against Sealand, and was held unless he paid DM 75,000 (more than US$ 35,000). The governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned the British government for his release, but the United Kingdom disavowed all responsibility, citing the 1968 court decision. Germany then sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Roughs Tower to negotiate for Achenbach's release. Roy Bates relented after several weeks of negotiations and subsequently claimed that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany. Following his repatriation, Achenbach established a "government in exile" in Germany, in opposition to Roy Bates, assuming the name "Chairman of the Privy Council". He handed the position to Johannes Seiger in 1989 due to illness. Seiger continues to claim — via his website — that he is Sealand's legitimate ruling authority.

Post-1990

• 1990: The Royal Maritime Auxiliary vessel Golden Eye was fired upon from Sealand in defense of their claim to the waters surrounding Roughs Tower to the extent of twelve nautical miles.
• 1997: Due to the massive quantity of illegal passports in circulation (estimated at 150,000), the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including those that they themselves had issued in the previous thirty years.
• 2006: On the afternoon of 23 June 2006, the top platform of the Roughs Tower caught fire due to an electrical failure. An RAF rescue helicopter transferred one person to Ipswich hospital, directly from the tower. The Harwich lifeboat stood by the Roughs Tower until a local fire tug extinguished the fire. All damages were repaired by November 2006.
• 2007: Sealand was offered for sale through Spanish estate company InmoNaranja. Since a principality cannot technically be sold, Sealand's current owners plan to transfer "custodianship". The asking price is €750 million (£600 million). Plans for an online casino have been announced.

Legal status of Sealand

The claim that Sealand is an independent sovereign state is based on the following contentions:

1. That when Paddy Roy Bates and his associates occupied Roughs Tower/HM Fort Roughs in 1967, it was located in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom and all other sovereign states, thus constituting terra nullius which could be settled and claimed by a new state. (This is the basis of the claim for de jure legitimacy).
2. That interactions by the UK and the German governments and the occupants of Sealand/Roughs Tower constitute de facto recognition of the territory's sovereignty. However, the concerned states deny this proposition.
3. That a 1968 decision of an English court, in which it was held that Roughs Tower was in international waters and thus outside the jurisdiction of the domestic courts, is a further de facto recognition of Sealand's sovereignty.

In international law, the two most common schools of thought for the creation of statehood are the constitutive and declaratory theories of state creation. The constitutive theory was the standard nineteenth century model of statehood, and the declaratory theory was developed in the twentieth century to address shortcomings of the constitutive theory. In the constitutive theory, a state exists exclusively via recognition by other states. The theory splits on whether this recognition requires "diplomatic recognition" or merely "recognition of existence". No other state grants Sealand official recognition, but it has been argued by Bates that negotiations carried out by Germany constituted "recognition of existence". In the declaratory theory of statehood, an entity becomes a state as soon as it meets the minimal criteria for statehood therefore recognition by other states is purely "declaratory".

Sealand as a statelike entity

Irrespective of its legal status, Sealand is managed by the Bates family as if it were a recognised sovereign entity, and they are its hereditary royal rulers. Roy Bates styles himself "Prince Roy" and his wife "Princess Joan". Their son is known as "His Royal Highness Prince Michael" and has been referred to as the "Prince Regent" by the Bates family since 1999. In this role he apparently serves as Sealand's acting "Head of State" and also its "Head of Government". At a micronations conference hosted by the University of Sunderland in 2004, Sealand was represented by Michael Bates's son James, who was referred to as "Prince Royal James". The facility is now occupied by one or more caretakers representing Michael Bates, who himself lives in Essex, England.

Constitution of the Principality of Sealand was instituted in 1974. It consists of a preamble and seven articles. The preamble asserts Sealand's independence, while the articles variously deal with Sealand's status as a constitutional monarchy, the empowerment of government bureaus, the role of an appointed, advisory senate, the functions of an appointed, advisory legal tribunal, a proscription against the bearing of arms except by members of a designated "Sealand Guard," the exclusive right of the sovereign to formulate foreign policy and alter the constitution, and the hereditary patrilinear succession of the monarchy. Sealand's legal system is claimed to follow British common law, and statutes take the form of decrees enacted by the sovereign. Sealand has issued passports and has operated as a flag of convenience state (see commercial and other operations) and it also holds the Guinness World Record for "the smallest area to lay claim to nation status". Sealand's motto is E Mare Libertas (From the Sea, Freedom). It appears on Sealandic items, such as stamps, passports, and coins and is the title of the Sealandic anthem. The anthem was composed by Londoner Basil Simonenko; it does not have lyrics.

Commercial and other operations

Sealand has been involved in several commercial operations, including the issuing of coins and postage stamps, and the establishment of an offshore internet hosting facility or "data haven". Sealand also had an official website and publishes an online newspaper, Sealand News. In addition, a number of amateur athletes "represent" Sealand in sporting events. According to Sealand News, a movie called Sealand is in development for release in 2008. As of 11 February 2007 Sealand is also taking bookings for tourist visits. For a period, Sealand camouflage passports were mass-manufactured and sold widely by a Spanish-based group believed to be associated with the "exile government" under Seiger. These passports, which the Bates family say were not authorized by them, were linked to several high-profile crimes. All passports were revoked by Roy Bates in 1997.

Coins and stamps

Several dozen different Sealand coins have been minted since 1972. In the early 1990s, Achenbach's German group also produced a coin, featuring a likeness of "Prime Minister Seiger". Sealand's coins and postage stamps are denominated in "Sealand Dollars", which it deems to be at parity with the U.S. dollar. Sealand first issued postage stamps in 1969, yet no stamp issues have been made since the start of the 21st century and Sealand is not a member of the Universal Postal Union, therefore its inward address is a PO Box in the United Kingdom.

HavenCo

In 2000, worldwide publicity was created about Sealand following the establishment of a new entity called HavenCo, a data haven, which effectively took control of Roughs Tower itself. However, Ryan Lackey, HavenCo's founder, later quit and claimed that Bates had lied to him by keeping the 1990-1991 court case from him and that as a result he had lost the money he had invested in the venture.

Sports and activities

Sealand has official national athletes, including non-Sealanders. These athletes take part in various sports, mini-golf and football. Sealand is actually a member of the Nouvelle Fédération-Board, a football sanctioning body for non-recognised states and states not members of FIFA.

Sealand claims that its first official athlete was Darren Blackburn of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, who was appointed in 2003. Blackburn has represented Sealand at a number of local sporting events, including marathons and off-trail races. Sealand's official U-20 National Football team is coached by American high school soccer coach Rory Miller and is mostly composed of players from his current and recent past roster at Muhlenberg North High School in Greenville, Kentucky. Sealand also claims that mountaineer Slader Oviatt carried the Sealandic flag to the top of Muztagh Ata in 2004. Since 16 December 2007, the Yorkshire-based airsoft team "SART" (Sheffield Armed Response Team) represents the Principality at airsoft games as its national team. Also in 2007, Michael Martelle represented the Principality of Sealand in the World Cup of Kung Fu, held in Quebec City, Canada; bearing the designation of Athleta Principalitas Bellatorius (Principal Martial Arts Athlete and Champion), Martelle won two silver medals, becoming the first-ever Sealand athlete to appear on a world championship podium. Sealand is also represented at the Destination ImagiNation Global Finals by the team from Dobbs Ferry High School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. The team members carried the Sealand flag in the 2007 DI Global Finals Opening Ceremony, and plan to do so again at the 2008 event. Sealand has also just hosted a skateboarding event with Church and East Ltd.

See also

• HM Fort Roughs
• Micronation

References

Bibliography

• Garfinkel, Simson. " Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger Off". Wired Magazine. July 2000. Vol. 8.07.
• Gilmour, Kim. " Sealand: Wish You Were Here?" Internet Magazine. August 2002.
• McCullagh, Declan Has 'haven' for questionable sites sunk?. CNET News.com. Retrieved on 2003-07-16..
• Lackey, Ryan. " Haven Company: What Really Happened" Address at Defcon 11 Las Vegas, 3 August 2003.
• Menefee, Samuel Pyeatt, "Republics of the Reefs": Nation-Building on the Continental Shelf and in the World's Oceans, California Western International Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 1, Fall, 1994.
• Miller, Marjorie & Boudreaux, Richard. "A Nation for Friend and Faux". Los Angeles Times. 7 June 2000. pA-1
• Slapper, Gary. "How a law-less 'data haven' is using law to protect itself". The Times. 8 August 2000. p3
• " Stop signs on the web; The battle between freedom and regulation on the Internet". The Economist. 13 January 2001. p1
• Strauss, Erwin S. How to Start Your Own Country, 2nd ed. Port Townsend, WA: Breakout Productions, 1984. ISBN 1-893626-15-6
• Connelly, Charlie. Attention All Shipping: A Journey Round The Shipping Forecast, Abacus, 2005. ISBN 0-349-11603-2
• Jack Goldsmith, Tim Wu, Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World, 2006, ISBN 0195152662

External links

• Official website
• Website of Rebel Sealand Government
• - Latest news from the Sealanders, Renovation updates and all the latest photos from Sealand
• Sealand News - Official newspaper of Sealand
• Sealand National Anthem - MIDI file on nationalanthems.info