Knight of sealand Continue A pleasant surprise in my inbox today - in recognition of the inclusion of the disputed Territory of Sealand in my list of sovereign states on my reading trip I was made knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Sealand by Prince Regent Michael I will send pictures of the actual affair when it arrives... Sealand is a micronation that claims Roughs Tower, a sea platform in the North Sea about 12 kilometres off the Suffolk coast, as its territory. Roughs Tower is an abandoned naval fort built by the British during World War II as an anti-aircraft gun. Since 1967, the decommissioned fort has been occupied by the family and associates of former British Army Major Paddy Roy Bates and then his son Michael, who claim to be an independent sovereign state. This will form the penultimate stop in my travels. North Sea micronation coordinates: 51'53'42.6N 1'28'49.8E/ 51.895167'N 1.480500'E / 51.895167; 1.480500 Principality of SealandMicronation Flag Coat of arms Motto: E Mare LibertasFrom the sea, FreedomAnthem: E Mare Libertas[a]Sealand from aboveOfficial languagesEnglish[1][non-primary source needed]Demonym(s)Sealander[1][non-primary source needed]Organizational structurePrincipality• Prince Michael Bates[1][2] • SenateFormal Senate[1][non-primary source needed]Establishment• Declared 2 September 1967[2] Area claimed• Total0.004 km2 (0.0015 sq mi)Purported currencyCoins and postage stamps of the Sealand dollar(pegged to the USD)<[1][non-primary source needed]Time zoneGMT[1][non-primary source needed]Websitesealandgov.org The Principality of Sealand (/ˈsiːˌlænd/) is a micronation that claims Roughs Tower, an offshore platform in the North Sea approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) off the coast of Suffolk, as its territory. Roughs Tower is an abandoned naval fort of Mawsell, originally called HM Fort Roughs, built by the British as an anti-aircraft gun during World War II. Since 1967, the decommissioned HM Rough Forts has been occupied by Paddy Roy Bates' family and associates who claim to be an independent sovereign state. Bates captured it from a group of pirate broadcasters in 1967 with the intention of setting up his own station at the site. He tried to create Sealand as a nation state in 1975 with the writing of a national constitution and the creation of other national symbols. Despite being named the smallest country in the world, Siland is not officially recognized by any of the recognized sovereign States, despite the Statement by the Government of Silanda that it was de facto recognized by Great Britain and Germany. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has been in force since 1994, states: Artificial islands, structures and facilities do not have the status of islands. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf. Sealand has been in UK territorial waters since 1987. Bates moved to the mainland when he became an elderly man, calling his son Michael regent. Bates died in October 2012 at the age of 91. Michael lives in Suffolk, where he and his sons run a family fishing business called Sea Fruits. Article History HM Fort Roughs Main: HM Fort Roughs In 1943, during World War II, HM Fort Roughs (sometimes called Roughs Tower) was built by Great Britain as one of the Maunsell fort, primarily to protect vital shipping lanes in nearby estuaries from Nazi Rygsmarine mine planes. It consisted of a floating pontoon base with an add-on of two hollow towers, which was joined by a deck to which other structures could be added. The fort was towed to a position above the sand shoal of Rough Sands, where its base was deliberately flooded to sink it into its last resting place. It is about 7 nautical miles (13 km) off the coast of Suffolk, outside the then claim of the United Kingdom at 3 nm (6 km) and therefore in international waters. The facility was occupied by 150-300 Royal Navy personnel throughout World War II; the last full-time staff left in 1956. The occupation and creation of the Passport stamp from Sealand Roughs Tower was occupied in February and August 1965 by Jack Moore and his daughter Jane, squatting on behalf of the pirate station Wonderful Radio London. On September 2, 1967, the fort was occupied by Major Paddy Roy Bates, a British subject and pirate radio host who kicked out a rival group of pirate broadcasters. Bates intended to broadcast his pirate radio station called Radio Essex from the platform. Despite the availability of the necessary equipment, he never started broadcasting. Bates declared the independence of the Tower of the Rough and considered it the Principality of Sylend. In 1968, British workers entered what Bates claimed was his territorial waters to service a navigation buoy near the platform. Michael Bates (son of Paddy Roy Bates) tried to scare the workers away by firing warning shots from the former fort. Because Bates was a British entity at the time, he was summoned to court in England on firearms charges following the incident. But because the court ruled that the platform (which Bates now calls Sealand) was outside British territorial boundaries, outside the country's then 3-mile (6km) water limit, the case could not go on. In 1975, Bates introduced a constitution for Sealand, followed by the national flag, national anthem, currency and passports. The attack in 1978 and the Sealand rebel government in August 1978, Achenbach, who calls himself The Prime Minister of Sealand, hired hired German and Dutch mercenaries to lead the attack on Sealand while Bates and his wife were in England. Achenbach disagreed with Bates over plans to turn Sealand into a luxury hotel and casino with other German and Dutch businessmen. They stormed the platform on speedboats, jet skis and helicopters and took Bates' son Michael hostage. Michael managed to recapture Sealand and capture Achenbach and the mercenaries with weapons hidden on the platform. Achenbach, the German lawyer who held Sealand's passport, was charged with treason against Sealand and was detained if he did not pay 75,000 Deutschmarks (more than $35,000 or 23,000 euros). Germany then sent a diplomat from its embassy in London to Siland to negotiate the release of Achenbach. Roy Bates relented after weeks of talks and later said the diplomat's visit was an actual recognition of Sealand by Germany. After repatriation, Achenbach and Gernot Putz formed a government in exile, sometimes known as the Sealand rebel government or the government of the sealandic Rebel, in Germany. In 1997, the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including those they had issued for the previous 22 years. It was believed that there were about 150,000 people in circulation. This was due to the realization that an international money laundering ring had emerged, using the sale of fake Sealand passports to finance drug trafficking and money laundering from Russia and Iraq. The leaders of the operation, based in Madrid but affiliated with various groups in Germany, including the rebel-held Sealand-in-exile government set up by Achenbach after the 1978 coup attempt, used fake Sealandic diplomatic immunity and license plates. They reportedly even sold 4,000 fake maritime passports to Hong Kong citizens for about $1,000 each. The Fire in Silenda in 2006, a few months after a fire on the afternoon of June 23, 2006, the upper platform of the Roughs Tower caught fire due to a malfunction of electrical equipment. A Royal Air Force rescue helicopter took one person to Ipswich Hospital from the tower. The Harwich lifeboat stood at The Roughs Tower until a local fire tug extinguished the fire. All damages were repaired by November 2006. In January 2007, The Pirate Bay, an online index of digital content entertainment media and software founded by Swedish think tank Piratbyr'n, tried to acquire Sealand after tougher copyright measures in Sweden forced them to look elsewhere for a base of operations. Between 2007 and 2010 Sealand was offered for sale through Spanish real estate company InmoNaranja, at an asking price of 750 million pounds (600 million pounds, 906 million U.S. dollars). The death of founder Roy Bates died at the age of 91 on 9 October 2012; he suffered from disease for several years. He was replaced by his son Michael. Joan Bates, wife of Roy Bates, died at a nursing home in Essex at the age of 86 on March 10, 2016. In late 2016, Michael Bates stated that Sealand receives hundreds of passport applications every day. Sealand's claim to the legal status of an independent sovereign state is based on an interpretation of a 1968 English court ruling that Roughs Tower is in international waters and thus outside the jurisdiction of national courts. A map of Siled and the United Kingdom, with territorial water claims 3 and 12 nmi (6 and 22 km) shown. In 1987, the UK expanded its territorial waters from 3 to 12 nautical miles (6 to 22 km). Sealand is currently in British territorial waters. The United Kingdom is one of 165 parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (acting since 1994), which states in Part 1 of Article 60 that artificial islands, structures and structures do not have the status of islands. They do not have their own territorial sea, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf.