This is not going to be a very deep post. No introspective search for universal truths, no musing on aesthetics and beauty. I just want to share something that I find infinitely curious: the history and continued existence of the Maunsell Sea Forts, current home of the principality of Sealand, former Pirate DJ haunt and the proof that sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. I really wish I could make this stuff up.
Built during World War II by the British government to deter further intrusion by elements of the German Kriegsmarine and as anti-aircraft platforms to aide in the fight against the Luftwaffe, they were then decommissioned during the 1950s and apparently left to rust, rot and interfere with shipping (they've caused multiple shipwrecks).
Since then, they've housed rogue 'pirate' DJs (those crazy, trendsetter 'hepcats' whose only sin was a desire to share broadcasts of the newest, grooviest rock n' roll tunes that had been banned on land by the likes of a list of self proud town mice...(pigs)), a rather ingenious reappropriation. They are also the current home to the Principality of Sealand, the self-proclaimed, "smallest nation in the world." Again, I wish I could make stuff like this up. For more information, consult the Principality of Sealand's official website here.
One final note: the journeyman fiction writer in me just drools at the prospect of including these forts into a post-apocalyptic/dystopic tale. In her "MaddAddam" trilogy, Margaret Atwood makes mention of one of the protagonists, Jimmy, explores a couple of off-shore structures, scavenging for food and other survival items in the wake of the "waterless flood". I don't know what she had in mind, but I couldn't help but project the image of the Maunsell forts onto the book.
To me these structures seem like the perfect destination to weather out a plague or nuclear conflict. I've also got the image of a hoard of zombie swimmers thrashing through the Themes estuary to encircle a band of resourceful survivors who've made it to the forts and now take in the scene by torchlight. Oh, the possibilities!
To me these structures seem like the perfect destination to weather out a plague or nuclear conflict. I've also got the image of a hoard of zombie swimmers thrashing through the Themes estuary to encircle a band of resourceful survivors who've made it to the forts and now take in the scene by torchlight. Oh, the possibilities!
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