The King and Caroline

June 30, 2006 11:57 AM

Reading up on Sealand's recent fire, I came across Bob Le-Roi's excellent site which covers all manner of information about the English offshore sea forts and various pirate radio squatter groups that utilized them once they were abandoned by HMG -- amazing coverage, really. Lots of candid photos aboard. Warning: 1996-style design.
posted by Ogre Lawless (9 comments total)

That's a really cool site, and this quote:

"Sealand's royal family today pledged to rebuild its country & to repair all the damage caused by the fire which devastated half of the independent kingdom."

from the first link, is gold!
posted by OmieWise at 12:23 PM on June 30, 2006

(See also.)

A major, and acknowledged, influence on Archigram's Walking City.
posted by adamgreenfield at 12:42 PM on June 30, 2006

These are pretty cool, too.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:49 PM on June 30, 2006

Maybe "having your own fire department" should be one of the criteria for being a sovereign nation.

I kid because I love. God save Prince Roy of Sealand!
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:07 PM on June 30, 2006

I've always been a huge fan of Sealand and the whole independent artificial island nation thing, but those photos make it look like a pretty dismal place to live...
posted by OverlappingElvis at 1:08 PM on June 30, 2006

They've sure got the language of politics and obfuscation down!

which has crippled its infrastructure significantly . . . damage was limited to about a third of the main administrative and communal facilities.

Oh, yeah, and: Sabotage or terrorist activities have been ruled out at this stage.

<3
posted by absalom at 2:49 PM on June 30, 2006

Didn't Sealand & HavenCo basically amount to a big tree fort? I read that the guy that was supposed to be the brains behind HavenCo bailed on it because it was a huge joke and there weren't any customers.

Ah, the article from the founder.
posted by drstein at 2:59 PM on June 30, 2006

Maybe "having your own fire department" should be one of the criteria for being a sovereign nation.

I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps they should take aid from the UN to pay back England for the fire services. Also, I was investing in the Sealand Dollar and now I am nearly bankrupt as the currency tanked in afterhours trading.

Im hoping with the rebuild of the sovreign nation will rebuild my finances.
posted by subaruwrx at 3:51 PM on June 30, 2006

rofl
posted by StrasbourgSecaucus at 10:13 PM on June 30, 2006