First building

visitors since the Declaration on 21st June 2008.

Setting up catenary First arch A break in filming

Things are progressing well with the house. The floor is laid and protected with polythene sheeting. I leveled the base using small shingle from the beach (taken up with a yoke and two buckets!). I then laid polystyrene foam boards 50mm. thick and interlocking particle board flooring on top. I now have a level surface to work on.

The building has a catenary arch shape – the shape a chain or rope takes when hung between two points. When inverted, this is the best load-bearing shape and the wind resistance will be fairly low compared with a conventional building. I was intrigued to read some time ago that Gaudi used this technique to design the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and wanted to try it out for myself in a simple way.

The first arch is made – a bit of a struggle getting the timber bent, but managed in the end. The next ones will be easier now I’ve sorted the problems on this one.
I now have steps up from the south harbour and brought up all the timber, plywood sheets and flooring. I’m trying various methods to lessen the swell in that harbour and will be setting mooring rings in the east harbour so I have an alternative shelter for the boat.

A busy day last Thursday - after lunch I collected a journalist and cameraman from the (London) Times - completely failed to convince the journalist, but you can't win them all. About 5:30 a fishing boat arrived with a film crew from ITV doing a series of programmes called Islands of Britain. The boat would not come into my peerie harbour, so I had to ferry them to the island in my boat. Two cameramen, two sound men, a producer and an organiser, plus presenter Martin Clunes. They stayed an hour longer than they intended and a good time was had by all. Fine day for it.

Posted on Monday, August 4, 2008 at 08:43PM by Registered CommenterStuart | Comments1 Comment

First gales and start of building work

visitors since the Declaration on 21st June 2008.


Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 11:36AM by Registered CommenterStuart | Comments2 Comments

Life after the declaration.

10708%20Flag%20small.JPGThings have settled down a bit after the initial surge of interest, so time to get back to work on the island and start building.

On citizenships there are some exciting developments that have delayed getting out the papers. It will now be possible to give you much more than I first envisioned. Thanks to everybody for your patience. See the Citizenship page for details. 

The flag is now up and I have a bigger tent. 10708%20Tent%202%20small.JPGThe turf is stripped from the first building site and I carried in about three tons of building materials. Building work starts in the next couple of days.

The South harbour is equipped with mooring lines for the boat - the East harbour, although potentially a better sheltered harbour, needs a lot more work before it can be safely used - there is also a 30ft cliff to climb!10708S%20Harbour%201%20small.JPG

10708%20E%20Harbour%201%20small.JPG10708%20Boat%202%20small.JPGThe boat performs well. Pretty heavily built, she carries a good load - all the building materials went on in two trips. At the same time, she planes with my elderly 4Hp Yamaha with light loads. The old Yamaha is feeling the strain and let me down a couple of times, so I got a second-hand 5Hp Honda as the main engine.

I've had journalists from Japan, France, Russia and the UK actually visit and have done radio interviews all over the world. One of these was with radio Hawaii and lasted about 20 minutes. In the middle of it the police arrived wanting to talk to me. My partner answered the door and was mortified that they should be visiting - she made them wait outside while I finished with Hawaii. At the end of the interview I said 'I'll have to go, the police are at the door'. Rather than coming to arrest me on some matter of high treason, they had heard reports of explosions on the island and wanted to know if I was using explosives, or did I have a shotgun? No to both and they went away. Back on the computer to find an email from Hawaii 'Are you OK?'. they had been inundated with emails from listeners thinking I'd been arrested!

10-7-08%20Israeli%20Kayaks%202%20small.JPG 

A group of Israeli kayakers arrived on Thursday, having seen an article in their daily paper. They gave me a flag and had their passports stamped. 

As you can see, Shetland is enjoying some fine, if not sunny, weather, while the rest of the UK suffers downpours! 

Now I can get on with the building. 

Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 12:42PM by Registered CommenterStuart | Comments5 Comments

Announcement

visitors since the Declaration on 21st June 2008.

Forvik%20flag%20Millgaet%20small.jpg

Statement of intent.

Many people in Shetland are aware that there is something wrong here. What most do not realise is the size of the deception that has been perpetrated on Shetland by the British government. I have been researching Shetland’s legal and constitutional position for the past five years and it’s now time to put my money where my mouth is in an attempt to expose this fraud and to put it right.

I have recently become the owner of a tiny island off Papa Stour, which itself (for the benefit of non-Shetlanders) is a small island off the west coast of Shetland. I am returning to the Nordic tradition by re-naming it Forvik Island (strictly speaking, it should be Fårvik) – Island of the Bay of Sheep. On 21st June 2008, Forvik, by my Declaration of Dependence, reverted to Shetland’s true constitutional position – that of a Crown Dependency. Other Crown Dependencies include The Isle of Man and The Channel Islands.
Stuart.jpg

Stuart standing outside the temporary accommodation block. Photo: Millgaet Media
Forvik Island, or Forvik for short, recognises neither the British Government, nor the European Union as its superior. Because of Shetland’s unique history, there can have been no legal basis for Shetland to have been involved with either. It recognises Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I of Scotland and II of the United Kingdom as head of state.

For those who do not know, in the 15th century, Shetland was part of Norway. The Norwegian King Christian’s daughter was to marry King James III of Scotland and James was to receive a substantial dowry of 8,000 gold florins. At the appointed time Christian was unable to come up with the money, so he pawned Shetland to James until he, or his successors could produce the cash. James was only holding Shetland in trust until the money was forthcoming and consequently had very limited rights. Although the money was offered on many occasions, James and his successors always managed to evade the issue and hang on to Shetland by various subterfuges. Two hundred years later, in 1667, the plenipotentiaries of Europe confirmed that the pawning document was still valid in full force and that therefore the Scottish Crown could not claim the ownership necessary to incorporate Shetland into the realm. Shetland remained the personal responsibility of the Crown, but with very limited rights.

A further two years later, in a remarkable and little referenced Act of Parliament, Charles II re-confirmed Shetland’s status at the time of the pawning. He made Shetland ‘directly dependent upon His Majesty’, made it a Stewartry, directly answerable to the Crown and made it impossible for Parliament to change that position.

Nothing has happened since to change that situation and the pawning document is recognised as the basis of Shetland’s constitutional relationship with the UK. Those in power would like us to believe that Shetland somehow became part of Scotland - although nobody can provide a date when it happened. They would like us to believe that Shetland is part of the EU – even though Shetland voted to come out and there was no legal basis for it to be in anyway. They would like us to believe that the UK government had the right to use Shetland’s rich fisheries as a bargaining chip for the UK to enter the EEC. They would like us to believe that the UK government had the right to appropriate the seabed around Shetland to extract the oil. They would like us to believe that the Crown has the right to charge rents for the use of the seabed around Shetland – knowing full well that no such legitimate claims existed. In short, Shetland’s true position is an embarrassment to the UK government and Crown and its true history must be suppressed.

By declaring Forvik a Crown Dependency I am simply re-establishing the correct legal relationship between this part of Shetland and the Crown. By doing so I will prove that Shetland as a whole can get the same benefits and more - simply by asserting rights that already exist.

There will be no income tax, VAT, council tax, corporation tax, or any of the other taxes instituted by the British government. The only tax is a contribution by every citizen towards the cost of running the state - the old Nordic scat. This will be initially set at a level of one forvik gulde per year – about £55 sterling at current gold values.
Forvik Island will have its own coinage backed by gold, its own stamps, and will register companies in a tax-free environment. Offshore banking and financial services will follow at a later date. Shetland has a right to all of these opportunities, but currently chooses to follow the unsubstantiated claims of the British government that it is part of Scotland.

Forvik will set down a claim to the sea and seabed – including fishing, oil and other mineral rights out to a limit of 200 miles, or to the median line between it and other states.

Shetland should properly be regarded as a Stewartry, answering directly to the Crown. Accordingly I have written to her Majesty the Queen offering my services as Steward of Forvik – recognising her as head of state, but recognising only those limited rights and privileges granted to the Crown by the pawning of Shetland in 1469 and subsequently confirmed by the plenipotentiaries of Europe in 1667.

I invite anyone in Shetland, or indeed anywhere else, who is interested in this project to apply for citizenship. Many benefits will be available to both individuals and companies.

Citizens can benefit from Forvik’s status in two ways:
There will be a land-owning citizenry (only open to Shetland residents) – 8000 plots will be available to buy at a cost of 2 Forvik Gulden. Land-owning citizens will be entitled to vote and participate in the island's unique open direct democracy system. Land-owning citizens will decide how the island’s income is spent and what projects are undertaken. A non-landowner can become a non-voting citizen, but still be entitled to a share in the island’s income. Non-voting honorary citizenship is open to suitable persons from anywhere in the world. All citizens will pay an annual scat of one Forvik gulde per year.


I am also inviting the owners of other property in Shetland, whether that may be an uninhabited island, or one of the populated parts, to join Forvik in a federation to eventually provide a legitimate alternative authority to the Shetland Islands Council.

Forvik citizens will be able to pay their local and national taxes into a holding account – rather than to the SIC if they do not agree with national or council policy. Forvik will benefit from the interest paid on the account and the money is available at any time.

No person or their immediate family may own more than 20 plots. Votes are one per person, but share of Forvik profits is per plot.

There are strong currents in Papa Sound and heavy seas with certain wind directions. Access to Forvik is difficult, but a landing place has been built and I will be building a better harbour in the near future. A start has been made on the first building. This will provide basic accommodation until the more substantial administrative and accommodation centre can be erected. The airstrip, helipad and air traffic control buildings have not yet been sited.

First%20landing
First landing. The beach can only be used at high tide.

Communications%20mast
Temporary communications mast.

First%20turfs
The first turfs cut for the official residence. Laundry services in the background.



The response to this site has completely swamped me - I'm getting emails asking about becoming a citizen every two minutes or so. I'm sorry to say it is not going to be possible to reply to everyone, but there is now a page where you can apply for citizenship. Your citizenship documents will follow shortly.

Some people are asking to come and live on Forvik. The whole island is only 2.5 acres and the land plots will be about 1 sqare metre - just so you can say you own a piece of land on the island. At a later stage there will be a small number of accommodation units, but I need to get a safe landing place before that can happen. There are no trees, only grass and sea pinks - plenty of seabirds and some otters. Cliffs on the west side are about 30ft. high, but that is the best site for a harbour.

Thanks to everybody for your support and comments.

Stuart


Posted on Friday, June 20, 2008 at 12:04PM by Registered CommenterStuart | Comments374 Comments | References1 Reference