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Dispatches From The Outlaw Ocean Ep. 3: Dreamers of a Floating World

Sealand
Courtesy Sealand

Published May 3, 2023 6:58 PM by Ian Urbina

This episode is the third installment in a 10-part short film series from The Outlaw Ocean Project. It stems from more than a decade of reporting by Ian Urbina exploring crime on the high seas. The series chronicles a gritty cast of characters including traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, shackled slaves and vigilante conservationists.

The ocean has long been a metaphor for freedom – the ultimate escape from governments and other people.

This episode takes us off the coast of England aboard Sealand, a rogue micronation founded by a quixotic adventurer on an abandoned anti-aircraft platform in 1967. From its bowels we will explore the fantastical world of sea-bound libertarians and utopian architects: renegades seeking to evade the laws of the land by building new worlds in international water and visionaries who believe that the ocean can provide the ultimate solution to the survival of our species.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.