Editing Principality of Sealand (section)

=== Occupation and establishment ===
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]].

On 2 September 1967, the fort was occupied by Major [[Paddy Roy Bates]], a British citizen and the owner of a pirate radio station, who ejected the competing group of pirate broadcasters.<ref name="Micronations">{{cite book |last1=Ryan |first1=John |title=Micronations |title-link=Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations |last2=Dunford |first2=George |last3=Sellars |first3=Simon |publisher=Lonely Planet |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-74104-730-1 |page=9}}</ref> Bates intended to broadcast his pirate radio station—called Radio Essex—from the platform.<ref name="Gould1966">{{cite news |last=Gould |first=Jack |date=25 March 1966 |orig-date=24 March |title=Radio: British Commercial Broadcasters Are at Sea; Illegal Programs Are Beamed From Ships |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/03/25/archives/radio-british-commercial-broadcasters-are-at-sea-illegal-programs.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 December 2015 |id={{ProQuest|116890783}} |df=dmy-all |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222170906/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E06E6DC1E39E735A75756C2A9659C946791D6CF |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite having the necessary equipment, he never began broadcasting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Radio Essex |url=http://www.offshoreechos.com/forts/radio_essex.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140917092141/http://www.offshoreechos.com/forts/radio_essex.htm |archive-date=Sep 17, 2014 |website=Offshore Echos}}</ref> Bates declared the independence of Roughs Tower and deemed it the Principality of Sealand.<ref name="Micronations"/>

In 1968, British workmen entered what Bates claimed to be his [[territorial waters]] to service a navigational buoy near the platform. [[Michael Bates (Sealand)|Michael Bates]] (son of Paddy Roy Bates) tried to scare the workmen off by firing warning shots from the fort. As Bates was a [[British subject]] at the time, he was summoned to court in England on firearms charges following the incident.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Garfinkel |first=Simson |date=July 1, 2000 |title=Welcome to Sealand. Now Bugger Off. |language=en-US |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |url=https://www.wired.com/2000/07/haven-2/ |issn=1059-1028 |access-date=4 September 2023 |archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422113913/https://www.wired.com/2000/07/haven-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The court ruled that the platform (which Bates was now calling Sealand) was outside British territorial limits, being beyond the {{convert|3|nmi|km|0|adj=on|spell=in}} limit which then applied to the country's waters. As a result, the case could not proceed as it was not within British jurisdiction.<ref>{{Cite court|litigants=Regina v. Paddy Roy Bates and Michael Roy Bates|court=[[The Shire Hall, Chelmsford]]|date=25 October 1968|url=https://www.benvenutiasealand.it/documenti/1968-sealand-in-tribunale-sealand-british-court-case/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904014542/https://www.benvenutiasealand.it/documenti/1968-sealand-in-tribunale-sealand-british-court-case/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McConnell |first1=Fiona |last2=Moreau |first2=Terri |last3=Dittmer |first3=Jason |date=2012-06-01 |title=Mimicking state diplomacy: The legitimizing strategies of unofficial diplomacies |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1334910/ |journal=Geoforum |series=Space, Contestation and the Political |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=804–814 |doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.01.007 |issn=0016-7185 |doi-access=free |access-date=4 September 2023 |archive-date=4 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904014535/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1334910/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Bates considers this Sealand's first instance of [[De facto recognition|''de facto'' recognition]].<ref name=":1"/>
[[File:Flag of Sealand.svg|thumb|The flag that flies above [[HM Fort Roughs]], designed by Paddy Roy Bates in 1975]]
{{anchor|Flag}}In 1975, Bates introduced a [[constitution]] for Sealand, followed by a national flag, a national anthem, ''E Mare Libertas'', a currency, passports, and an immigration stamp.<ref name="MacEacheran2020">{{cite news |last1=MacEacheran |first1=Mike |title=Sealand: A peculiar 'nation' off England's coast |url=http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200706-sealand-a-peculiar-nation-off-englands-coast |access-date=23 September 2020 |work=[[BBC Travel]] |publisher=BBC |date=5 July 2020 |language=en |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930011526/http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200706-sealand-a-peculiar-nation-off-englands-coast |url-status=live }}</ref>