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| HM Fort Roughs was one of several World War II installations, that were designed by Guy Maunsell and known collectively as His Majesty's Forts or as Maunsell Sea Forts, and its purpose was to guard the port of Harwich, Essex. It was constructed in 1942. On February 11, 1943 the fort was towed by three tugs to a location on Rough Sands where its base was intentionally flooded so that it sank to a resting place on the sandbar located approximately six miles from the coast of Suffolk and eight miles from the coast of Essex. It is an United Kingdom abandoned World war II gun tower. It later became a self-proclaimed, unrecognized state called the Principality of Sealand. | |
| Paddy Roy Bates is a former British Army Major. In 1966 he operated Radio Essex and Ronan O'Rahilly who operated Radio Caroline landed on Fort Roughs and occupied it. However after disagreements Roy Bates seized the tower as his own. O'Rahilly attempted to storm the fort in 1967, but Roy Bates defended the fort with guns and petrol bombs and continued to occupy the fort. The British Royal Marines went on alert and the British Authorities ordered Roy Bates to surrender. In his refusal, Roy Bates founded the Principality of Sealand on 2 September 1967 and settled there with his family as it was outside British territorial waters. | |
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The area is about the size of a tennis court. The island fortress is conveniently situated from 65 to 100 miles from the coasts of France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Latitude 51.53 N, Longitude 01.28 E. The official language of Sealand is English and the Sealand Dollar has a fixed exchange rate of one U.S. dollar. Sealand Dollar is sub-divided into 100 cents.
Official Website can be viewed at: http://www.sealandgov.com/ |
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| I purchased my 10 Dollar 1972 coin from Steele Huang (Similar Coin). It shown a Sailing Ship on one side and Princess Joan on the other. The diameter of this coin is 40.6 mm. Made in .925 silver and weights 25.15 grams with reeded egde. Mintage is only 2,000 pieces. The coin is mentioned in Bruce Unusual World Coins, 4th edition, as Bruce#X1 and catalogued at US $50. 10 Dollar dated 1977 and 20 Dollars 1975 were also produced on Princess Joan. | |
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| The location chosen was Roughs Tower, an island fortress created in World War II by Britain and subsequently abandoned to the jurisdiction of the High Seas. After intensive discussions with skillful English lawyers, Roy Bates proclaimed the island his own state. Claiming jus gentium, he bestowed upon himself the title of Prince and the title of Princess to his wife and subsequently made the state the Principality of Sealand. Roy Bates, henceforth Roy of Sealand, exerted state authority on the island and thus was an absolute sovereign. The royal family and other persons that have declared loyalty to Sealand have occupied Sealand ever since. | |
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Sealand
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Since Roy of Sealand
was still an English citizen, he was thus accused of extensive crimes in
Britain and was summoned to an English court. The result of this lawsuit in
Chelmsford, Essex was a spectacular success for Sealand's claim to
sovereignty. In its judgment of 25 November 1968, the court declared that it
was not competent in Roy of Sealand's case as it could not exert any
jurisdiction outside of British national territory. British court decision
where the judge held that Roughs Tower stood in international waters and did
not fall under the legal jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.
This is the first de facto recognition of the Principality of Sealand.
English law had ruled that Sealand was not part of the United Kingdom, nor
did any other nation claim it, hence Prince Roy's declaration of a new
Sovereign State was de facto upheld.
The independence of Sealand was upheld in a 1968. This gave birth
to Sealand's national motto of E Mare Libertas, or "From the Sea,
Freedom".
Rulers of Sealand:
Seven years later on 25 September 1975, Roy of Sealand proclaimed the Constitution of the Principality. Over time, other national treasures were developed, such as the flag of the Principality of Sealand, its national anthem, stamps, as well as gold and silver coins launched as Sealand Dollars. Finally, passports of the Principality of Sealand were issued to those who had helped Sealand in some way, though they were never for sale. The Law of Sealand is based on British Common Law and British Law of Contract. Passports and stamps have been in circulation since 1969. Sealand printed stamps in 1969 and 1970. These were reportedly used to carry mail between the Fort Roughs (Sealand) and Brussels (Belgium). |
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| I got my X9 1 Dollar 1994, 31.1340g, .999Ag, diameter 39 mm, 1 oz with reeded edge coin from Joel Anderson. Sealand has produced a set of silver and gold coins to divert our attention to the endangered species: Orcinus Orca, once known as "Killer Whales". In ocean Orca can live from 30 to 50 years, but while captivity in polluted pools they are likely to die within 10 years. Sealand has produced coins of quarter, half and one dollar in silver metal with 1, 2.5 and 5 dollars in gold metal in 1994. The $1.00 gold coin contains one gram of gold, the $2.50 gold coin weighs 1/20 oz while the $5.00 gold coin weights 1/10 oz. All three three gold coins are struck in .999 pure gold and their purity and weight are noted on the coins to the left of the denomination. Pattern of these coins in brass and copper-nickel also exist. | |
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In 1978, while Bates
was away, the "Prime Minister" he had appointed, Professor Alexander G.
Achenbach, and several German and Dutch citizens 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 Gernot Pütz, 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 £18,000). 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 Pütz's release, and after several weeks Roy Bates relented and vindicated. Bates eventually released the German without payment of his 75,000 Deutschmark fine for subsequently claiming that the diplomat's visit constituted de facto recognition of Sealand by Germany. (Germany has not commented on this interpretation.). Following his repatriation, Achenbach established an "exile government" in Germany, in opposition to Roy Bates, assuming the title of "Chairman of the Privy Council". Upon Achenbach's resignation for health reasons in August 1989, the rebel government's "Minister for Economic Co-operation", Johannes Seiger, assumed control, with the position of "Prime Minister and Chairman of the Privy Council". Seiger continues to claim that he is Sealand's legitimate ruling authority. In the early 1990s, Achenbach's German group also produced a 100 Sealand Dollar 1991 dated coin, featuring a likeness of Prime Minister Johannes Seiger. It is 1 oz silver coin, having reeded edge, 38.6mm in diameter. The next uproar took place during the Falkland Islands War of 1982. Argentina's initial success rapidly eroded, and the Argentines conceived of a desperate plan. They contacted Bates and asked to lease Sealand as a missile base, hoping to destroy British morale. Bates swallowed down his mercenary impulses and declined. In a completely unrelated matter, Britain extended its territorial waters to the 20 kilometer limit later that year, soon after dynamiting another tower near Sealand. Prince Roy refused to give up the ship, though. In 1999, he entered into negotiations with HavenCo to lease the entire nation. HavenCo (naturally) now plans to turn Sealand into an offshore data haven. Since the EU has already extended Sealand a certain degree of de facto recognition, it remains to be seen how these plans will develop. |
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| In an incident in 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. Due to the massive quantity of illegal passports in circulation (estimated at 150,000), in 1997 the Bates family revoked all Sealand passports, including those that they themselves had issued in the previous thirty years. | |
| 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 damage was repaired by November 2006. In 2007, Sealand was offered for sale through Spanish estate company InmoNaranja. However, because a principality can't technically be sold, Sealand's current owners plan to transfer "custodianship". The asking price is between £65,000,000 and £504,000,000 (€ 750m according to the BBC). | |
| A film about Bates' story, titled Sealand, is listed on IMDB (a user-submitted database of film and television projects) as being in production and probably it will be released in 2008. | |
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