During the second World War, HM Fort Roughs was constructed as a defence against German mine-laying aircraft that might be targeting the estuaries that were part of vital shipping lanes. The structure includes a floating pontoon and two huge hollow towers that are joined to a large deck. The fort was towed into a position six miles from the coast of Suffolk in international waters. It's base was flooded so that it sunk to rest on a sandbar.



Up until 1956 it was occupied by Royal Navel personnel. In September, 1967, the fort was acquired by Major Roy Bates, a pirate radio broadcaster. The next year the Royal Navy entered what Bates had assumed to be his territorial waters to service a navigational buoy. Michael Bates, Roy's son, fired warning shots to scare off the workmen. As a result Michael, a British subject, was summoned to an English court.

The court ruled that Fort Roughs, which Bates referred to as Sealand, was outside British jurisdiction as it was beyond the three mile limit of the country's territorial waters. In 1975 Bates introduced a constitution for Sealand, along with a flag, national anthem, currency and passports.

In 1978 there was a forcible takeover of Sealand by Dutch and German citizens who held Michael Bates captive for several days. In a dramatic operation, Bates enlisted armed assistance and retook the fortress with a helicopter assault. The man behind the initial attack, Alexander Achenbach, held a Sealand passport and was held as a prisoner of war and charged with treason. Germany sent a diplomat from its London embassy to Sealand to negotiate for Achenbach's release. Bates relented after several weeks of negotiations claiming that the diplomat's visit constituted recognition of Sealand by Germany.

It seems that the main issue for Bates was figuring out what to do with the man-made island. The Bates family have earned their livings through fairly ordinary pursuits, such as commercial fishing and fish processing. They have spent many hours shuttling back and forth between Sealand and the UK. They seem to have considered various moneymaking plans including a pirate radio station or turning Sealand into a tax haven, pleasure den or casino. In reality, prior to 2000, Sealand had become a money pit, with the family spending huge amounts on upkeep, supplies, legal fees, and improvements.

In 2000, worldwide publicity was created about Sealand following the establishment of a new entity called HavenCO, a data haven, which effectively took control of Roughs Tower itself. It was an opportunity to give corporations or individuals the opportunity to store and move data without having to answer to regulators, lawyers or competitors. Ryan Lackey, a 21-year-old MIT dropout and self-taught crypto expert, aimed to set up Sealand as the world's first truly offshore, almost-anything-goes electronic data haven - a place that occupies an intriguing grey area between what's legal and what's possible.

As Sealand exists outside the jurisdiction of the world's nation-states, it isn't just off-shore but off-government. Sealand could claim to be governed only by the laws that prevail there. So if Internet gambling is legal (or overlooked) in Sealand but not in another country, the idea is to set up in Sealand, and use the web to send your site to the other country. Similarly, companies using Sealand to house their data can choose to operate according to the special laws of Sealand, and those laws will be particularly lax - though not quite anarchic. Lackey says the general idea is to allow a little naughtiness, while forbidding criminal activity that could generate international outrage.

In 2000 Lackey predicted "In 10 years, we'll be investing profits in turning Sealand into a larger island," he says. "It's unclear right now whether it will be a hotel/casino space or purely a larger secure colocation facility. We hope to be in operation everywhere by then ...". By 2003 Lackey had left the company due to his business partners becoming nervous about hosting objectionable material and his belief that they were leading the company toward financial ruin.

Despite these difficulties the controversial nation can boast it's own national athletes. The athletes take part in various sports, including mini-golf and football. Sealand is actually a member of the Nouvelle Federation Board, a football sanctioning body for non-recognised states. Sealand claims that its first official athlete was Darren Blackburn of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, who was appointed in 2003. Blackburn represented Sealand at a number of local sporting events, including marathons.

Sealand also claims that mountaineer Slader Oviatt carried the Sealandic flag to the top of Muztagh Ata in 2004. Sealand's most successful athlete is Michael Martelle, who represented the Principality of Sealand in the World Cup of Kung Fu. Martelle won two silver medals, becoming the first Sealand athlete to appear on a world championship podium.