![]() 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. 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. The fort was towed to a position above the Rough Sands sandbar, where its base was deliberately flooded to sink it on its final resting place. It consisted of a floating pontoon base with a superstructure of two hollow towers joined by a deck upon which other structures could be added. In 1943, during World War II, HM Fort Roughs (sometimes called Roughs Tower) was constructed by the United Kingdom as one of the Maunsell Forts, primarily to defend the vital shipping lanes in nearby estuaries against Nazi Kriegsmarine mine-laying aircraft. Michael lives in Suffolk, where he and his sons run a family fishing business called Fruits of the Sea. Bates died in October 2012 at the age of 91. They have no territorial sea of their own, and their presence does not affect the delimitation of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf.” Since 1987, Sealand has lain within the United Kingdom’s territorial waters.īates moved to the mainland when he became elderly, naming his son, Michael, as regent. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in force since 1994 states: “Artificial islands, installations and structures do not possess the status of islands. While it has been described as the world’s smallest country, Sealand is not officially recognised by any established sovereign state in spite of Sealand’s government’s claim that it has been de facto recognised by the United Kingdom and Germany. He attempted to establish Sealand as a nation state in 1975 with the writing of a national constitution and establishment of other national symbols. Since 1967, the decommissioned HM Fort Roughs has been occupied by the family and associates of Paddy Roy Bates, who claim that it is an independent sovereign state.īates seized it from a group of pirate radio broadcasters in 1967 with the intention of setting up his own station at the site. Roughs Tower is a disused Maunsell Sea Fort, originally called HM Fort Roughs, built as an anti-aircraft gun platform by the British during World War II. ![]() The Principality of Sealand 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. ![]()
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