Just Finished Reading: Sealand – The True Story of the World's Most Stubborn Micronation by Dylan Taylor-Lehman (FP: 2020) [285pp] 

I'm not sure when I first heard of Sealand. It was probably in the late 1960's as, no doubt, my parent's tabloid newspaper had reported its occupation to be used as an illegal pirate radio platform. Sealand or, as it was originally named, Roughs Tower is a small platform (around 400 square metres in size) located around 11Km off the English coast in the North Sea - pictured below. Its original function was as an anti-aircraft installation in WW2 but, as you might imagine, fell into disuse after the fighting stopped. Subsequently ignored and left to rot for years afterwards it was eventually, and illegally, occupied in 1967 by Roy Bates (and family) and declared an independent micro-state shortly after. 

As you might imagine the British government really didn't know what to do about this new 'country' popping up on its doorstep. For one thing it was (at the time) just outside Britain's territorial waters so, at least technically, they had no ownership rights to the structure. This was one reason why Roy Bates wanted it – so that he could install a pirate radio station there and cash in on the craze for such things at the time (the pirate radio stations mostly disappeared after BBC Radio 1 came on-line a few years later). 

The British government did muse over taking the platform by force (which could be easily accomplished by the Royal navy and Marines) but considered it both low priority and potentially very bad 'optics' especially in the age of decolonisation! The Bates family had enough excitement of their own though – with an armed coup, equally armed countercoup, police involvement, arrests and court appearances, international concern over abuse of Sealand passports and much more – never mind the notoriously severe North Sea storms. Being associated with and living on Sealand was far from a cushy existence! 

This was certainly an interesting look at one of the stranger aspects of British/North Sea history. The author looked at the Sealand project in exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) detail which occasionally morphed into rather annoying fanboy territory. That criticism aside I rather enjoyed this slice of British eccentricity, and it was good to discover the details behind something, and somewhere, that I'd heard very little about previously. An odd little read. Reasonable.