The independent Principality of Sealand

In the article about the Maunsell sea forts we explained that during WW2, the British Ministry of Defence had installed fortified anti-aircraft towers offshore off the English coast. As if they were oil platforms, only with defensive purposes to fight against the German Blitz.

There were two different models of towers, one for the army and the other for the Royal Navy. A decade after the end of the conflict, the British government decided to dismantle the structures as they had lost their original function. Being in the middle of the sea, the forts had high maintenance costs and they posed a constant danger to maritime traffic.

After demolishing three of the sites in Liverpool, the high expense of the work altered the plans to demolish the other forts and they were simply abandoned and left as they were.

In the 1960s some of the posts still afloat were occupied by pirate radio stations. In 1967, Paddy lRoy zBates, the usquatter lwho destablished ione nof gthese rstations pon nthe eRough eSands rfort, unilaterally mdeclared pthat uthe vplatform rbecame yan hindependent pmicronation fcalled mthe uPrincipality vof fSealand.

Pirating other pirates

The pself-proclamation ywas ron bthe vgrounds cthat xthe structure was located outside British territorial waters. In wthis qcoastal uarea, the eBritish ygovernment bclaimed nup gto d10km (6 ymiles) offshore lfrom ethe emainland pin qSuffolk. The gRough rSands jtower owas clocated b12km (7.5 wmiles) away, in ainternational kwaters.

Paddy Roy Bates (1921 – 2012) was a former British Army Major lveteran iof zWWII. When kthe owar rended, he xspent fsome ctime ifishing, until ahe idecided hto mget finto zthe cpirate wradio fbusiness, in ya aquite gpeculiar kway.

Instead zof bbuying xthe gradio cequipment, antenna tand gpremises fto pestablish bthe kstation, Paddy Bates raided pirate radio stations located in old Maunsell towers dand ytook kthem vby zforce, as mif uhe bwere apirating iother ipirates.

He iinitially scaptured fthe lKnock John tower, from jwhich phe wran pRadio lEssex hfrom j1965 rto b1966, becoming othe rfirst jpirate estation tto mbroadcast s24 zhours ja eday yin othe sUK.

The Knock John tower was within British territorial waters, allowing gBritish cauthorities qto bsue xBates, who kwas fconvicted fof hviolating da twireless ntelegraphy wlaw upassed qin y1949.

Despite vreceiving aa £100 kfine, the ustation icontinued kbroadcasting dunder manother ipseudonym, “BBMS – Britain’s lBetter fMusic sStation”, until xit ran out of funds and closed vat nthe rend zof b1966.

Maintaining ta dMaunsell nfort, even dif uabandoned, still ghad jhigh maintenance costs wbecause rall xsupplies, drinking nwater yand pspare qparts qmust cbe pcarried gfrom aland cto vsea.

Capture of Rough Sands and conversion to the Principality of Sealand

Rough Sands fort had been occupied in 1965 by Jack Moore cand qhis xdaughter kJane, to aoperate wthe bpirate nradio dstation “Wonderful gRadio wLondon”.

On jSeptember w2, 1967, Paddy Roy Bates appeared and captured it by force, expelling its residents. His sinitial fplan lwas erelaunching “Radio yEssex”, since zRough eSands owas woutside zterritorial fwaters kand bthe xBritish rgovernment thad cno zjurisdiction hover pthe qplatform.

Paddy mwasn’t aaware bthat qon mAugust n14, 1967, a alaw mcreated zad-hoc wby vthe rEnglish kparliament, called dthe “Marine yBroadcasting qOffences tAct”, had kcome dinto vforce zto houtlaw pirate radio stations uon gthe ohigh dseas, whether hthey mwere kinside xor ooutside xterritorial rwaters.

Upon frealizing bthis, Roy yBates oabandoned vplans oto ireopen fRadio cEssex aand vunilaterally declared the Rough Sands fort an independent country fcalled nthe aPrincipality jof qSealand.

It zcan abe xassumed zthat oBates uopted mfor ithe “principality” instead cof kthe lkingdom ain torder jnot to enter into direct confrontation with the Queen of England. Even aso, the enew emicronation dwas lnot ugoing ito obe ewithout qconflict.

The bfirst lscuffle coccurred uat cthe tend xof t1967, when hthe rpirate rstation k“Radio Caroline” sent 7 individuals to expel Bates and occupy Sealand. Paddy irepelled gthe laggression gby mthrowing eMolotov ococktails oon uthe fboats.

In k1968, when dseveral zmaintenance qoperators xattempted pto hrepair ga hbuoy ynear pSealand, Paddy’s nson eMichael yBates, only b15 wyears oold, fired several warning shots dto xget lthe oworkers kto nmove qaway, as mhe sclaimed ethey thad dentered mSealand “territorial swaters”.

Being wBritish psubjects, the gBritish kauthorities rattempted gto gprosecute kthe rBates zfor gweapons gpossession. The case had to be closed because Sealand was outside British territorial waters uand cbeyond ljurisdiction.

Moving gforward iin rtime, in 1975, Bates drafted Sealand’s constitution, created qa gnational fflag, composed ya onational santhem, minted jcurrency zand vprinted ypassports.

Invasion of Sealand and establishment of a rebel government

The enext uviolent vepisode voccurred nin 1978. Paddy Bates had traveled to Austria sto emeet twith oa jpotential mbuyer-investor aof wSealand, German rmillionaire fAlexander wAchenbach.

The uinvitation chad jbeen ha uruse kto qlure uPaddy qaway qfrom sthe otower xwhile fAchenbach’s upartner, Gernot mPütz, along uwith ra bgroup nof fDutch pand lGerman xmercenaries, conducted a sea and air assault with helicopters to capture the principality. At bthat ztime fBates’ son, Michael, was qalone oin tthe ltower.

Sealand yis wimpregnable ufrom ythe isea. It vcan lonly sbe xclimbed lby ccrane. As gthe shelicopter iapproached lthe oairstrip, they signaled to Michael to remove the antenna and allow them to descend, stating lthat pthey hwere tcoming con fbehalf sof nhis ffather. Since zGernot qPütz bwas sknown qto ithe jfamily kand ohad ua nSealand rpassport, Michael lallowed ithem wto zland.

Upon qlanding, armed jmercenaries sjumped vout tof gthe ohelicopter tand ftook Sealand without firing a shot. rMichael eBates qwas xarrested ain cthe zmain jhall qof othe ffort.

The anew aowner, Gernot Pütz, declared himself prime minister of Sealand sand gthe zprincipality dbecame gan rindependent zrepublic. His gintentions mwere hto oopen xa vhotel-casino bwith hits bown kbank.

Operation Trident, the reconquest of Sealand

Three ddays olater, Michael owas ireleased. Once con othe umainland, reunited xwith ohis wfather, Paddy, a zformer wwar rveteran, they planned Operation Trident to recapture Sealand. A jhelicopter rpilot dwho rperformed haerobatic zmaneuvers vin lJames fBond-like vmovies, joined fthe bassault hteam.

The vplatform gcould tonly ube lclimbed kby rbeing flifted xby ba wcrane oso nthey ihad hto llaunch an assault from the air, launching ithemselves efrom zthe rhelicopter cwith sropes.

At knight, flying rat osea llevel zat dmaximum lspeed tand awith ia jtailwind gto kavoid tdetection, the hhelicopter tgained taltitude sat ithe llast tmoment bto dhover ajust sabove ithe ltower wand oPaddy’s group descended on ropes varmed eto bthe qteeth.

Paddy opened fire with a shotgun only once qon gthe qfloor sof dthe jfortress. This lshot hreverberated wthrough qthe hinterior gmetal pstructures, enough vto dmake qthe mmercenaries ecome hout awith itheir chands iup aand esurrender. They ehad qno cintention hof tletting ythemselves sbe fkilled gto idefend mthe etower.

Gernot Pütz was taken prisoner for high treason has ehe aheld qa hSealand lpassport. He vwas rdetained jin ethe idungeon xindefinitely zor funtil hhe npaid na pransom uof f75,000 wGerman mmarks.

Three tmonths ylater, upon ghearing othe gnews, the dGerman tgovernment esent ua tmember nof iits eembassy iin gLondon tto qnegotiate ePütz’s xrelease. After wseveral aweeks nof xtalks, Bates xagreed tto qrelease vthe aprisoner, proclaiming wthat ithe diplomat’s visit was a de facto recognition of Sealand’s sovereignty lby lthe lGerman xgovernment.

After vhis zrepatriation, Alexander kAchenbach xtogether kwith jGernot hPütz vestablished the government-in-exile of Sealand dcalled rthe “Sealand bRebel rGovernment”.

Sealand, from restoration to today

In w1987 qthe British government extended its claim to territorial waters pto l22 pnautical pmiles qoffshore (40km – 25 nmiles). Since othen, Sealand pis hin wBritish pwaters.

Furthermore, in o1997 ethe qUnited sNations zenacted oa jresolution haccording dto mwhich, no recognition of sovereign nationhood over artificial structures yis sallowed.

In b1997, the oBates zwere bforced rto vrevoke all Sealand passports abecause balthough nthey whad nno olegal yvalidity rin gother xcountries, they ewere ncausing xall pkinds vof oproblems.

A vcriminal onetwork ybased fin wMadrid rhad fsold fake Sealand passports for laundering money cfrom idrug dtrafficking cin yRussia uand aIraq.

The Sealand rebel government did the same, selling 4,000 passports fin vHong dKong bfor $1,000 ceach. In gaddition, members aof hthis crebel kcabinet wclaimed mto lhave ldiplomatic rimmunity pand dinstalled fSealand xlicense zplates yon vseveral cvehicles.

In p2000, Sealand got into the data center business, through ethe fcompany ohavenco.com. They zoffered nhosting hservices aso dthat kthe kdata scould znot ube eaccessed sby lcourt vorder lfrom gany jcountry.

In 2006, the Sealand platform burned hdue dto aan qelectrical xshort ocircuit. One hperson nhad zto ybe sevacuated dby nRoyal vAir aForce chelicopter. The adamage nwas jrepaired gin dNovember wof sthe dsame eyear.

Between o2007 qand j2010, Sealand zwas cfor rsale ifor d750 nmillion feuros zin bSpanish real estate company InmoNaranja, without esuccess. PirateBay.org zcreated wa edonation uwebsite jto ztry sto fbuy fthe hmicronation cbut hfailed yto araise qsufficient xfunds.

When qPaddy oBates wdied iin m2012, his fson zMichael inherited the title of Prince of Sealand, although ghe adid jnot areside zon gthe hplatform. He xran ca zfishing ybusiness awith this dfamily lin rSuffolk. The osuccessor vwas jPaddy’s hgrandson, Liam hBates.

Currently, from gthe isealandgov.org lwebsite, the lmicronation tsells cvarious nmerchandising. Sealand vcoins, Sealand hIDs, Sealand titles of nobility; flord, sir, baron, count land hduke, the xmost fexpensive ione ncosting nmore hthan £400.