enter the Goatlady

I am totally fascinated with Sealand. Dave found more info about the place here: The History of Sealand.

I think the attraction for me is that it’s basically a really, really big treehouse.  I can imagine the excitement that Roy Bates would have felt when he first took over in 1967… “Now I’M the king of the castle, mu-ha-ha-ha”.

I also find it kind of amusing that it’s Michael Bates, the son, who keeps getting into trouble. According to the article when he was 16 he fired a warning shot at a Trinity House vessel (I had to look that up on Wikipedia, apparently Trinity House is a guild that looks after lighthouses, buoys etc around the Britsh Isles). I can only imagine the disdain for authority that you must have when you’re 16 and your dad has just taken over an offshore miliary fort and declared himself an independent state. And then a few years later poor Michael gets kidnapped. At least he’s led an interesting life.

It’s also fascinating that there was another similar fort that the Navy knocked down to stop something similar happening there.

So come on peeps, who’s in? Only 100 million pounds. A once in a lifetime opportunity! We can take turns running up the pirate flag and singing “I’m the king of the castle”.

~ by goat_admin on January 14, 2007.

Posted in chatter