Wikipedia talk:Articles for deletion/Principality of Sealand

Regarding reality and fantasy: This is what the Bates family have to say on their own Principality of Sealand web site:

"Sealand was founded on the principle that any group of people dissatisfied with the oppressive laws and restrictions of existing nation states may declare independence in any place not claimed to be under the jurisdiction of another sovereign entity. The location chosen was Roughs Tower, an island fortress created in World War II by Britain and subsequently abandoned to the jurisdiction of the High Seas."

The problem with that statement is that it is untrue on its face. Roy Bates, who is British, has gone to great lengths to state that he is proud to be British. He has made no attack on Britain because it is an "oppressive" nation, just the opposite is true. He defended the UK when he was in the British Army and he claims to have defended it again during the Falklands War.

However, Bates then claims that Rough(s) Tower is an island fortress when in fact it is a sunken barge with a superstructure above the waterline. He states that it was "abandoned to the jurisdiction of the High Seas" which is totally untrue as evidenced by the UK Ministry of Defence buoys that surround the sunken barge on Rough Sands sandbar to this very moment in time! MPLX/MH 23:52, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)