I'd love it if you told your story with respects to sealand. I was fascinated with it when I first heard about it many years ago, especially to learn that the UK govt seemed to have allowed it to exist without shutting them down.

For others reading this who don't know the story my recollection of events is that it goes something like this:

(1) UK builds large offshore firing platforms in the english channel to target german bombers in WW2 then abandons them after the war.

(2) A military family moves to one of the platforms after the war and declares it to be an independant state. The UK government lets them get away with it.

(3) Over the years they remain there and allow others to come and live on the platform. They issue passports etc. At one point they were the base for a pirate radio station. At another point they fended off an armed invasion/attempted coup of the platform.

(4) In the late 90's havenco set up a business on the island. The idea was to provide secure hosting outside the scope of any legal harassment from authorities. The business didn't work out.

(5) A few years ago the platform burned down in a fire.

I'd love to hear accounts from people who have actually been there & seen it for themselves.