DOCSLIB.ORG

Sealand, Havenco, and the Rule of Law

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sealand, Havenco, and the Rule of Law GRIMMELMANN.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 3/16/2012 8:46 AM SEALAND, HAVENCO, AND THE RULE OF LAW James Grimmelmann* In 2000, a group of American entrepreneurs moved to a former World War II antiaircraft platform in the North Sea, seven miles off the British coast. There, they launched HavenCo, one of the strangest start-ups in Internet history. A former pirate radio broadcaster, Roy Bates, had occupied the platform in the 1960s, moved his family aboard, and declared it to be the sovereign Principality of Sealand. HavenCo’s founders were opposed to governmental censorship and control of the Internet; by putting computer servers on Sealand, they planned to create a “data haven” for unpopular speech, safely beyond the reach of any other country. This Article tells the full story of Sealand and HavenCo—and examines what they have to tell us about the nature of the rule of law in the age of the Internet. The story itself is fascinating enough: it includes pirate radio, shotguns, rampant copyright infringement, a Red Bull skateboarding special, perpetual motion machines, and the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of State. But its implications for the rule of law are even more remarkable. Previous scholars have seen HavenCo as a straightforward challenge to the rule of law: by threat- ening to undermine national authority, HavenCo was opposed to all law. As the fuller history shows, this story is too simplistic. HavenCo also depended on international law to recognize and protect Sealand, and on Sealand law to protect it from Sealand itself. Where others have seen HavenCo’s failure as the triumph of traditional regulatory authorities over HavenCo, this Article argues that in a very real sense, HavenCo failed not from too much law but from too little. The “law” * Associate Professor of Law, New York Law School. I presented earlier versions of this Arti- cle at the Bits Without Borders conference at Michigan State University, to the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, and to faculty workshops at New York Law School and Fordham Law School. My thanks for their comments to the attendees there, to the readers of the Volokh Conspiracy blog, and to Aislinn Black, Claude Aiken, David Auerbach, Robert Blecker, Andrea Casillas, Michael Froomkin, Jean Galbraith, Nathaniel Gleicher, Peter Hirtle, Molly Land, Jan Lewis, Dominic Mauro, David Post, Harry Surden, Berin Szoka, and Christopher Wong. Nate Anderson generously shared the Sealand-related fruits of his research for his forthcoming book, The Internet Police. William Mills at the NYLS library helped track down numerous sources. Geoffrey Weg and Katie Baxter provided research assistance. This Article is available for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 U.S. license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/. 405 GRIMMELMANN.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 3/16/2012 8:46 AM 406 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW [Vol. 2012 that was supposed to keep HavenCo safe was law only in a thin, for- malistic sense, disconnected from the human institutions that make and enforce law. But without those institutions, law does not work, as HavenCo discovered. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 406 II. SEALAND ...................................................................................................... 412 A. 1942: Roughs Tower ........................................................................... 413 B. 1966–1967: Roy Bates ........................................................................ 414 C. 1967: Roy Bates vs. The United Kingdom .......................................... 418 D. 1967–1968: The Principality of Sealand ............................................ 421 E. 1968–1978: Grand Schemes ............................................................... 424 F. 1978: Civil War .................................................................................. 427 G. 1978–1990: Pirate Broadcasting Redux ............................................. 430 H. 1987–2011: Recent Developments ...................................................... 434 I. Life on Sealand ................................................................................... 437 J. Other Sealands ................................................................................... 439 K. Themes ................................................................................................ 443 III. HAVENCO ..................................................................................................... 445 A. “Data Haven” .................................................................................... 445 B. Rise ..................................................................................................... 449 C. Fall ..................................................................................................... 453 IV. THE RULE OF LAW ........................................................................................ 457 A. National Law ...................................................................................... 459 1. HavenCo and National Law ...................................................... 460 2. The Rule of Law As Self-Government ........................................ 463 B. International Law ............................................................................... 465 1. Sealand and International Law ................................................. 465 2. The Rule of Law As Formal Legality ......................................... 473 C. Sealand Law ....................................................................................... 476 1. The Rule of Law As Restraint on Government ........................... 476 2. HavenCo and Sealand Law ....................................................... 477 D. Connections ........................................................................................ 479 V. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 481 I. INTRODUCTION Sealand is stranger than fiction. A pair of concrete legs supporting a 120-foot by 50-foot platform, 60 feet above the North Sea, this “small- est country on earth” sits 7 miles off the British coast. Built during World War II for antiaircraft defense, it was occupied in the 1960s by Roy Bates, a former pirate radio operator who declared himself ruler of the new Principality of Sealand. Boosting his claim, a British court ac- quitted him in 1968 on firearms charges because Sealand stood outside of British territorial waters. He made Sealand into his family’s home: GRIMMELMANN.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 3/16/2012 8:46 AM No. 2] SEALAND, HAVENCO, AND THE RULE OF LAW 407 promulgating a constitution; issuing stamps, coins, and passports; and generally adopting the trappings of nationhood. Sealand has even had a coup and countercoup: in 1978 a German lawyer seized control of the platform, only to be taken prisoner by Bates in a daring helicopter land- ing a few days later. Sealand’s moment of greatest fame came in 2000, when it offered the ultimate in literally offshore data hosting. The Internet startup HavenCo built out Sealand as a data center, moving in computer servers and connecting them to the Internet. The idea was that HavenCo would be a data haven, which would store content that was illegal in other coun- tries. Online casinos, subpoena-proof corporate records, good old- fashioned pornography—HavenCo would host it all, safely beyond the reach of any other country’s courts. The company launched to massive press coverage (including a cover story in Wired1), promising unfettered free speech to the masses while extending a raised middle finger to cen- sors and control freaks around the world.2 This much is familiar to scholars.3 Talk to any Internet-law scholar 1. See Simson Garfinkel, Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger Off, WIRED, July 2000, at 230. 2. See, e.g., Around the Globe, 27 COMPUTER L. & TAX REP. 16, 16 (2000); Mara D. Bellaby, An Internet “Mouse that Roars” Pops up off Britain, HOUS. CHRON., June 25, 2000, at 10; Steve Boggan, Americans Turn a Tin-Pot State off the Essex Coast into World Capital of Computer Anarchy, INDEP. (Eng.), June 5, 2000, at 3; David Canton, Creating a Country to Avoid Jurisdiction, LONDON FREE PRESS, June 16, 2000, at D3; David Cohen, Offshore Haven: Cold Water Poured on Sealand Se- curity, GUARDIAN, June 6, 2000, at 24; Anne Cornelius, Legal Issues Online Firms Set to Take Refuge in Offshore Fortress, SCOTSMAN, June 15, 2000, at 26; Peter Ford, Banned on Land, but Free at Sea?, CHRISTIAN SCI. MONITOR, June 23, 2000, at 1; Dan Gillmor, Data Haven May Be a Step in the Right Direction, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, June 6, 2000, at 1C; Carlos Grande, Island Fortress’s “Data Ha- ven” to Confront E-Trade Regulation, FIN. TIMES, June 6, 2000, at 2; Ann Harrison, Data Haven Says It Offers Freedom from Observation, COMPUTERWORLD, Nov. 13, 2000, at 50; Bob Low, Techlife: Tiptoing Through the Web, DAILY REC. (Scot.), July 1, 2000, at 42; John Markoff, Rebel Outpost on the Fringes of Cyberspace, N.Y. TIMES, June 4, 2000, at 14; Wade O’Leary, Pirates Board the Net, DAILY TELEGRAPH (Austl.), June 7, 2010, at 57; Edward Sherwin, A Distant Sense of Data Security, WASH. POST, Sept. 20, 2000, at G8; Europe Acts on Net Tax Loophole, ACCT. AGE, June 8, 2000, at 3; Internet Exiles, NEW SCIENTIST, June 17, 2000, at 1717; Internet “Island” Set Up in the North Sea: Data Haven with Gun Guards and Radar, BIRMINGHAM
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Signal Issue 37
    Signal Issue 37 Tricks of the Trade Dave Porter G4OYX and Alan Beech G1BXG By 25th September 1965, Radio 390 was on the air and 31st December 2015 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the offshore station Radio Scotland. The only remaining station to launch with RCA 10 kW Ampliphase transmitters was Radio 270 from 4th June 1966, on-air some three months later than originally planned. Member’s contribution understood that, whilst CE was used to these T-K arrangements, mainly for Government contracts, the need After reading the last three ToTT, VMARS Member Tony to effect a quick turn-around with minimal delays was not Rock G3KTR/AD1X contacted the author (DP) with the quite their norm. With time slipping by, the decision was following information on the 1965 build of Radio Scotland. made to leave the USA without the systems being totally commissioned and to complete en-route. Also, during this Tony writes; I read with interest the article you and Alan trip, it was discovered that one of the planned operating put together on Ampliphase transmitters. In the mid-1960s frequencies, namely 650 kHz, was actually occupied in the I was working out of the RCA Broadcast & UK by a certain high-power station on 647 kHz, the Communications Division at Sunbury-on-Thames. At this 150 kW BBC Third Programme. It was understood that an time RCA had sold several transmitters to offshore ‘pirate’ early ‘recce’ by the Americans to the UK to check for ‘spare radio stations. While Marconi and other European channels’ resulted in a monitoring time when the Third companies could be subjected to sanctions by the Programme was not scheduled on air.
    [Show full text]
  • Hans Knot International Radio Report July/August 2017
    Hans Knot International Radio Report July/August 2017 Welcome to another issue of the International Radio Report and like every summer it will be one for the month of July and August. Thanks for the many response on last issue as well as memories and photos have been sent in for this and further issues. Enjoy the report! Sadly we have to start with bad news. May the 30th the following sad news came in from Mark Sloane (Pat Hammerton) ‘Sorry to report Hans my dear chum David Gilbee, Dave Mackay, died this weekend. He and I met on Radio 390 and worked together on 355. He was also my brother in law, marrying my sister Lis.’ Dave MacKay Radio 355 Photo: collection Pirate Hall of Fame I’m very sorry to hear this sad news Pat. Of course you know him far much better than I do. I met him on a handful of occasions and was in contact with him by e-mail through the years. Of course he was on special Radio Reunions a few times in England where we met during the last 20 years. But our very first meeting was one, were we sometimes talked about. It was a very special day just after the official opening of Melody Radio in London. I was there for a special for our magazine and he told me all about the station, the style of presentation but above all how much of the music was transferred to a machine which was just put into the market. It was Dave who brought me to the idea to do the same with my vinyl collection.
    [Show full text]
  • Caroline North Returns for 2017
    Caroline North returns for 2017 DATELINE London and Douglas, Isle of Man 23 January 2017 Radio Caroline North returns this weekend (28/29 January 2017) online and on Manx Radio 1368 AM for the first of our broadcasts in 2017. We'll go back to the very early days of the station and hear how our first ship the Fredericia was found, along with new interviews that reveal how the finances were put in place to start the operation. And we'll hear from our founder Ronan O'Rahilly as to what he thought the station achieved. So join us this weekend live on board the Ross Revenge for Radio Caroline North. Your emails are always welcome at [email protected] Radio Caroline North on AM from the Isle of Man is sponsored by Tiptree, Preserves of Distinction. Caroline North Schedule Saturday 28th January 06:00 John Ellery 08.30 Chris Williams' Carnaby Street from Manx Radio 10:30 Kevin Turner 13:00 Chris Pearson 15:30 Johnny Lewis 18:00 Dave Foster 21:00 Barry James Sunday 29th January 00:00 Andrew Austin 03:00 Bill Rollins 06:00 Ray Clark 09:00 Kevin Turner 11:30 Johnny Lewis 14:00 Chris Pearson 16:30 Barry James 19:00 Dave Foster 21:00 Close Programmes subject to change ++++++++++++++++++++ Radio Day 2017 DATELINE Amsterdam 23 January 2017 Plans are being made for the next Radio Day in 2017. It will be held at The Entrepot, Harlingen Saturday 20th May 2017. See these pages for further information:- http://www.radioday.nl/ https://www.facebook.com/RadioDay-Harlingen-751177308383830/ +++++++++++++++++++++ Carl Conway DATELINE Dover 14th February 2017 Carl Conway, one of the first voices heard on Radio Caroline when the station launched in March 1964, has died at the age of 95.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dutch Radio Day
    The Dutch Radio Day It was in 1978 that Mike Baron and Nick Oakly from Music Radio Promotions asked as few people from the Netherlands, including Hans Knot, to cooperate in a special event called Zeezenders 20, which was held at Noordwijkerhout. Inspired by the Zeezenders 20 happening Rob Olthof from Amsterdam suggested that he, along with Hans, could organise small meetings for offshore radio fans. He made a beginning with the so- called ‘Movie Afternoons’. It was the time when private videos arose and so those 8mm movies, made by offshore radio anoraks, were screened and some discussions were launched. In 1980, Hans Verbaan of the Free Radio Campaign joined in and a group of interested people got together in a small building in Scheveningen harbour on quite a regular basis. These movie afternoons sometimes took place twice a year and it came to a point that there were more people than available chairs. Therefore some bigger locations in cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht and again Amsterdam had to be found. In 1984, the first guests were interviewed including Simon Barrett, Juul Geleick and Tom Mulder. In the meantime, the organising team was growing with Piet Treffers and Tom de Munck joining in. From the late eighties, more people from abroad - most of all Germany and Belgium - attended the event each year. During the nineties, more and more deejays and technicians from former offshore radio stations visited the Radio Days to be interviewed. Our team had been joined by Jelle Boonstra, who did a marvellous job within the Radio Day organisation during a period of 15 years.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pirates and Pop Music Radio
    SELLING THE SIXTIES Was pirate radio in the sixties a non-stop psychedelic party – an offshore discothèque that never closed? Or was there more to it than hip radicalism and floating jukeboxes? From the mavericks in the Kings Road and the clubs ofSohotothemultinationaladvertisers andbigbusiness boardrooms Selling the Sixties examines the boom of pirate broadcasting in Britain. Using two contrasting models of unauthorized broadcasting, Radios Caroline and London, Robert Chapman situates offshore radio in its social and political context. In doing so, he challenges many of the myths which have grown up around the phenomenon. The pirates’ own story is framed within an examination of commercial precedents in Europe and America, the BBC’s initial reluctance to embrace pop culture, and the Corporation’s eventual assimilation of pirate programming into its own pop service, Radio One. Selling the Sixties utilizes previously unseen evidence from the pirates’ own archives, revealing interviews with those directly involved, and rare audio material from the period. This fascinating look at the relationship between unauthorized broadcasting and the growth of pop culture will appeal not only to students of communications, mass media, and cultural studies but to all those with an enthusiasm for radio history, pop, and the sixties. Robert Chapman’s broadcasting experience includes BBC local radio in Bristol and Northampton. He has also contributed archive material to Radios One and Four. He is currently Lecturer and Researcher in the Department of Performing Arts and Media Studies at Salford College of Technology. Selling the Sixties THE PIRATES AND POP MUSIC RADIO ROBERT CHAPMAN London and New York First published 1992 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Radio Mi Amigo DJ Peter Van Dam Has Died
    Radio Mi Amigo DJ Peter van Dam has died DATELINE 6th January 2018 Peter van Dam - described as the great godfather of Flemish pop radio, has died at the age of 65. Best remembered for his programmes on Radio Mi Amigo, Peter also worked on other offshore stations - Radio 199, Radio Caroline and Radio Atlantis. After offshore radio Peter worked on many land-based radio stations including TROS, AVRO, KRO, Radio 10 Gold, Hilversum 3, VTM, MaevaFM, Radio Contact, Radio 192 and Radio Flandria (where he was launch Programme Director). Colleague Eric Hofman paid tribute to Peter and his contribution to Flemish radio - "The first time we met was in Vilvoorde when we became colleagues. He was a great guy, with a huge personality, both in the studio and outside. A man with a phenomenal sense of humour, a lightning-fast thinker, a genius radio maker and top disc-jockey. The only Belgian who became a DJ at Hilversum 3 in prime time and the only Belgian to present the Pinkpop Festival - a whole honour. The name Peter van Dam remains inextricably linked to the golden age of radio which he presented in his inimitable, unique style. Peter is synonymous with Radio Atlantis, Caroline, Hilversum 3, but primarily Radio Mi Amigo, where he first broadcast live on board the MV Mi Amigo and later recorded programmes in Spain. Greece also became acquainted with his enormous radio talent and experience, where he helped to promote Karpathos FM from the bottom to the top of the ratings. For me Peter van Dam is the best Belgian deejay ever.
    [Show full text]
  • Artists Visits to the Offshore Radio Stations the Idea for This List Came
    Artists visits to the offshore radio stations The idea for this list came from Martin van der Ven after listening to one of the last shows from Keith Skues in September 2020 when Keith mentioned some of the names of artists who visited the Mi Amigo from Caroline South in the sixties. With this new list we mention not only those who visited a radio ship, but also the studios on land or even presented a program. Mentioning for being on a roadshow or other venue, organized by an Offshore station, are also in this list. If so the item will be mentioned ‘outside’. Up to the readers to make this list a complete as possible. Please name the artist, the station’s name as well as it was on land or at sea. Aart Staartjes – Veronica Hilversum Accents, the – Radio London Outside Action, the – Radio London Outside Adam Faith - Radio Scotland outside Adriaan van Landschoot (A. Larson, Ad Rolls, Wuldre, later with Adrivalan Orchestra and Adya) – Radio Atlantis Jeanine and Atlantis Oostburg Adrian Veronica jingles Adam Faith - Caroline MV Caroline (Fredericia) Adele Bloemendaal – Veronica Hilversum Afro Beat Dancers – Radio Noordzee outside Alan Blakeley - Radio London last day Alan Bown Set – Radio London Outside Alan Price - Caroline Admiral Beatfleet Albert Hammond – Veronica CBS Festival Albert Mol - Veronica Hilversum Alexander Curly Veronica jingle Alexander Pola – Veronica Hilversum Alexis Korner – taped shows on Radio 390 Red Sands and on Radio 270 Oceaan 7 Alex Welsh and his band – Caroline outside Alice Cooper - Veronica Hilversum, RNI outside
    [Show full text]
  • Hans Knot International Radio Report August 2012
    Hans Knot International Radio Report August 2012 A very good day to you, readers of the international radio report. Thanks for all who gave me input for this edition. It’s summertime in Europe and so this edition will be a bit smaller one than you’re used to. There are some special happenings coming weeks which I first would like to mention. It was Ronny Forslund, who sent me on July 17th an invitation to visit Denmark: ‘Hello Hans, If you haven't yet anything booked for July 31 you are very welcome to join us at the Radio Mercur Revival Day in Dragör, Denmark on July 31st . A number of former Radio Mercur staff members will be gathering at the Dragör Museum where there is a 1950s exhibition and there will be broadcasts of Radio Mercur during the day from 0600 to 2400 local time/CET (0400 to 2200 UTC/GMT). Apart from old Radio Mercur recordings there will also be live broadcasts from the museum. Tage in studio Radio Mercur Photo: Erik Lindhardt The programmes will be broadcast over a temporary transmitter operating on 99.4 MHz on top of the SAS Radisson Hotel in Copenhagen - one of the highest buildings in the city. It is also possible to listen via our web streams which will be announced on www.scandinavianoffshoreradio.com before we start. It would be nice if you could make it, but if not, I hope to see you at this year's Radio Day in Amsterdam. All the best to you, from Stockholm and have a great summer, Ronny Forslund.’ Of course I’ve answered Ronny and thanked him for the very nice invitation.
    [Show full text]
  • An Introductory History of British Broadcasting
    An Introductory History of British Broadcasting ‘. a timely and provocative combination of historical narrative and social analysis. Crisell’s book provides an important historical and analytical introduc- tion to a subject which has long needed an overview of this kind.’ Sian Nicholas, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television ‘Absolutely excellent for an overview of British broadcasting history: detailed, systematic and written in an engaging style.’ Stephen Gordon, Sandwell College An Introductory History of British Broadcasting is a concise and accessible history of British radio and television. It begins with the birth of radio at the beginning of the twentieth century and discusses key moments in media history, from the first wireless broadcast in 1920 through to recent developments in digital broadcasting and the internet. Distinguishing broadcasting from other kinds of mass media, and evaluating the way in which audiences have experienced the medium, Andrew Crisell considers the nature and evolution of broadcasting, the growth of broadcasting institutions and the relation of broadcasting to a wider political and social context. This fully updated and expanded second edition includes: ■ The latest developments in digital broadcasting and the internet ■ Broadcasting in a multimedia era and its prospects for the future ■ The concept of public service broadcasting and its changing role in an era of interactivity, multiple channels and pay per view ■ An evaluation of recent political pressures on the BBC and ITV duopoly ■ A timeline of key broadcasting events and annotated advice on further reading Andrew Crisell is Professor of Broadcasting Studies at the University of Sunderland. He is the author of Understanding Radio, also published by Routledge.
    [Show full text]
  • Hans Knot International Radio Report September 2016
    Hans Knot International Radio Report September 2016 Hello everybody I tried endless to play ‘Summer Holiday’ by Cliff Richard. We all, but above all Cliff himself deserved it after the 2 years trouble he was in. Thanks for all reflections, questions and memories which came in from which I will bring a part in this issue. First we have an e mail from Rob Ashard: ‘Hi Hans You may like these photographs. Sadly there are only a few. Feel free to post them if you wish and allow their use. These are pictures I took in September 1983 when I went out on the tender to the Ross Revenge. My connection to Radio Caroline was Dave Finn, pictured at the bottom of the mast, who had been involved supplying technical stuff to Radio Caroline since the seventies of last century and was a good friend of Jim Code. He also knew Ronan O’Rahilly (Ronan went to a BBQ he held). He also knew Mike Plumley who was running things at the time. Ross Revenge 1983 Photo: Rob Ashard I had in those days three weeks leave from work, which was the sound section of LWT. By the time the weather allowed a tender I only had a week left, so I couldn't stay on the Ross Revenge. I was going to be a dogsbody and maybe help with building the second studio, as there was still a fair amount to do as the ship had only been on the air for a month. Needless to say, I hoped I'd wangle my way on air.
    [Show full text]
  • Managing Radio
    MANAGING RADIO Caroline Mitchell, Brian Lister and Tony O'Shea Online edition edited by Brian Lister. First published 2009 by Sound Concepts 37 West End, Sedgefield, TS21 2BW. England. © 2009 Caroline Mitchell, Brian Lister and Tony O'Shea Managing Radio by Caroline Mitchell, Brian Lister and Tony O'Shea is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Dervative Works 2.0 UK:England & Wales Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from [email protected] Extracts from this work should be cited or referenced as "Mitchell,C. Lister, B. and O'Shea, A. (2009) Managing Radio Sound Concepts (online) available at www.soundconcepts.ltd.uk/managingradio/ " 2 MANAGING RADIO Caroline Mitchell, Brian Lister and Tony O'Shea Caroline Mitchell is Senior Lecturer in Radio at the University of Sunderland and a trainer and consultant in community media. She was previously Head of Radio at the University where she established the MA in Radio (Production and Management). She has produced research publications in the area of radio studies, women and radio and community radio and has over 20 years experience of advising community radio groups in the area of radio training and setting up participatory radio station structures and programming. Brian Lister is a senior Radio Industry consultant and visiting lecturer in Radio Management at the University of Sunderland, UK.
    [Show full text]
  • THE OFFSHORE RADIO MASTS Ian Anderson
    THE OFFSHORE RADIO MASTS Ian Anderson n Offshore Echo’s 150, I explained how in the Summer of 2007 I decided to settle something that had bugged me about Radio London’s radio mast ever since the time I fi rst saw a picture Iof the Galaxy in 1965. In that article, and in the follow-up in Offshore Echo’s 151, I estab- lished that the radio masts of the Galaxy and the Olga Patricia (Laissez Faire), two Texan fi nanced and Miami-built radio ships, were much shorter than claimed, but that most of the other offshore radio masts were more or less as previously claimed. Since then I have been trying to establish the precise heights of those other masts. First of all I had to decide what was meant by height, with the top of the mast to keel level, to sea level and (with the towers in the Thames Estuary) to sea-bed level all quoted in various articles and books. After some consultation I decided the height had to be from the mast deck level, just like ground level on land. Almost in every case several heights were quoted for a mast. For example in Jack Kotschack’s (JK) book on Radio Nord, the two masts (only one was erected) are described variously as 40 metres and 43 metres, whereas the correct height was 37 metres. Some of the masts made use of what was already there, or was readily available. The existing ships’ masts were used for the bottom section on the Fredericia and the Olga Patricia, the lantern tower was used on the Comet, the surviving part of the Radio Nord radio mast was used for the bottom section of Mi Amigo masts of 1964 and 1966, and the test mast of the racing yacht Norsaga was used for both of the Ocean VII masts, that being the only section to survive the collapse of the fi rst mast when the rigging was over-tensioned, against advice.
    [Show full text]