Forvik Island
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"Forvik Island" is the name which has been given to Forewick Holm by Stuart Hill. Around mid June 2008 Hill claimed to have "recently" become the owner of the small (approx total area 1 hectare/approx 2.5 acres) and previously rather insignificant, relatively unknown islet. He elaborated on this around mid July, by stating that the islet had been donated to him by someone who wished to support his campaign on Shetland's legal and constitutional position. It is situated at 60° 19' 7.47" N, 1° 39' 49.29" W, in the Sound of Papa a short distance off the south-east coast of Papa Stour, which itself is a small island off the coast of the west Mainland of Shetland. Satellite imagery showing the islet's location relative to the U.K, Western Europe and Scandinavia can be viewed here. The name is first known to have been used on June 18th 2008 when Mr Hill's intention to declare "Forvik Island", or "Forvik" for short, a dependent territory was made public. The Declaration of Dependency was subsequently made on June 21st 2008.
A vast amount of information is now available. Mr Hill is understood to have established residency on the isle sometime shortly before plans to announce dependence were made public. His accomodation is understood to have been, and continues to be a tent which he has erected, as no other shelter exists on the islet, and it is also believed that he is/was the sole inhabitant of the isle. There are no known records of permanent resident(s) on the isle in the past, and given that it only extends to approx one hectare in total area, it would seem unlikely that it could have supported inhabitants. However, satellite imaging shows what could appear to be the remains of some sort of circular construction on its SSE tip, therefore its use as some form of residence at some past time cannot be ruled out. No announcement was made by Hill in the early stages whether he planned to make "Forvik" his permanent home, or occasional residence, but it appeared at that time, that occasional was most likely, at least initially. Hill confirmed this around mid July by making a statement that although he spent as much time as he could on "Forvik", and had mobile/cell phone coverage, he did not have internet access. Therefore it had been, and would remain necessary for the forseeable future, that he spend some of his time in his Shetland Mainland office. This had been particularly necessary immediately after making the Declaration of Dependence. Hill also added that he didn't "expect to spend the first winter on "Forvik"", presumably due to the very limited facilities and services likely to be established within and to/from the territory by that time.
In the late evening of September 14th 2008 Hill was rescued, yet one more time, by the lifeboat, from the Sound of Papa. According to him, he had decided to move his self-designed and built "landing craft" style small boat to a more sheltered anchorage at "Forvik", as she was starting to fill with water, due to a rising swell driven on SE winds gusting to Force 6 and 7. Once underway, in darkness, Hill, apparently having completely underestimated the full strength of the swell, found his vessel quickly swamped, resulting in both outboard motors becoming submerged to the point that they failed.
At around 22.30 BST Hill alerted Shetland Coastguard of his plight by mobile phone, and the Sumburgh Search and Rescue helicopter and Aith Lifeboat were tasked to provide assistance. He was retrieved from his vessel by the latter, and landed safely on the Shetland mainland shortly after midnight. Perhaps inevitably, given Hill's previous nautical escapades, this incident has drawn further criticism and a certain amount of ridicule of him from a number of locals, mainly, but not exclusively concerning his level of expertise and judgement as a seafarer, and his apparent somewhat cavalier attitude towards the level of exepense, time and personal risk he has caused rescue services and personnel.
Apparently, as always, undaunted by being involved in yet another "Captain Calamity" style incident, Hill is quoted as saying that his immediate plans are to attempt to salvage his partly submerged vessel, which he had anchored between "Forvik" and Papa Stour before being rescued from it. September 15th proved unsuitable for a salvage attempt, due to sea conditions, and the vessel remained at anchor all day, a further attempt was to be made of the 16th, conditions permitting, but the vessel was found to be gone from anchor. A subsequent coastal search, found her, largely buried, with engines still attached on the Kirk Sands, Papa Stour, only a short distance from where she'd been anchored.
The engines were quickly rescued and taken away in the hope they could be cleaned and salvaged. At the time of writing plans were afoot to attempt to excavate the rest of the vessel from the beach on September 19th, and assess if she was worthy of salvaging.
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Current Status
It is unclear whether, as claimed owner and sole known resident of this new territory, Mr Hill automatically assumes any additional title(s) or position(s) of governing authority. However, while little detail has yet become available, it would appear that some form of basic constitution, government and regulation is in place. It has been stated that "Forvik Island" recognises neither the EU or any UK government, it is a dependency answerable directly to only the UK Crown, which it recognises as Head of State, but only insofar as the rights conferred by King Christian I of Denmark, when he pawned Shetland in 1469 in lieu of outstanding dowry in connection with the marriage of his daughter Margaret, to King James III of Scotland in 1468. Mr Hill states he has written to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II offering his services as "Steward of Forvik", a copy of the letter can be downloaded from this page. (MS Word Document Format, 100KB). The Declaration also lays claim to all seabed rights, including fish, mineral and oil, up to 200 miles from its shores, or the median between itself and its neighbours. Hill's first known attempt to exercise any of these rights was made on July 18th, when he publically invited interested parties with the ability and a "proven track record", to enter in to negotiations concerning oil exploration in the waters within the co-ordinates 60° 19.28' N, 1° 39.85' W, 60° 18.97' N, 1° 40.04' W, 60° 18.80' N, 1° 39.23' W, 60° 19.12' N, 1° 39.81' W. The territory will also be a tax haven with no Income Tax, Corporation Tax, VAT or other tax instituted by the UK Government; the only tax payable in the territory will be a payment by citizens towards the running of the state - similar to the old Norse Skat. This tax has been set initially at the annual rate of one Forvik Gulde, which is the territory's own currency, backed by gold, with an exchange rate based on current gold values of approx GB Pounds Sterling 55 = 1 Forvik Gulde, and due to be made available later in 2008. The Skat collected annually will be formally offered to the UK Crown, as Head of State, but then immediately claimed back for the running of the territory.
"Forvik Island" is declared to have no religious or party political affiliations, and no connection with any other organisation.
A "Forvik Island" Flag has been created, featuring the Shetland Flag as a background, overlaid with a shield containing the rampant lion of Norway (without crown), holding aloft a legal scroll, and the motto 'Með løgum skal land biggja', which is also the motto of the current local government, the Shetland Islands Council. A fuller explanation of the symbolism of this design can be found here. Postage stamps are also planned, but no further details are available at the moment. It is unclear if the registration of companies in this tax free enviornment is yet possible, however other planned offshore banking and financial services are still only in the planning stage, and are to be made available at a later date. Plans for other duty free activities and vehicle registrations have also been mentioned, but no further details are available at this time.
An unclear statement has been made by the "Forvik Island" authorities concerning the witholding of taxes from UK National and Local Government, which will then be deposited in a holding account, the interest from which will be available to the land owning citizens of "Forvik" as income, and used as collectively decided by them. However, it is not specified on whom or what these taxes may have been tried to be levied, or why.
Citizenship
Applications to become a citizen of "Forvik Island" have been invited by Mr Hill. Two forms of citizenship are currently available, a land owning citizen, and a non-land owning citizen (changed to "Honorary Citizen" on June 23rd 2008. In the initial invitation made public on June 21st 2008 land owning citizenship was only open to Shetland residents, and currently remains so, it was and is limited to a maximum of 8000 plots of land (individual plot size approx one square metre), and was offered at a cost of 5 Forvik Gulden (approx GBP Sterling 275). It might be reasonable to speculate that 8000 plots are an intentional number, and symbolic of the 8000 Florins of the Rhine for which Shetland was pawned to Scotland by Denmark in 1469, but Mr Hill has neither confirmed or denied any connection. Land-owning citizenship is further limited to a maximum of 20 plots to any one individual and their immediate family. Non-land owning citizenship was open to "suitable applicants" (the definition of which was not given) worldwide, and was offered at a cost of one Forvik Gulde (approx GB Pounds Sterling 55). On June 23rd 2008 the cost of land-owing citizenship was reduced to 2 Forvik Gulden (approx GB Pounds Sterling 110), Non-land owning citizenship became known as Honorary Citizenship, remaining at the previous cost of 1 Forvik Gulde (approx GB Pounds Sterling 55) and was open to anyone who "support the ideals and aspirations of Forvik". In addition a "Forvik Passport" was first offered on June 23rd 2008 and available for purchase by Honorary Citizens, at a cost of 20 "Forvik Groats" (approx GB Pounds Sterling 11.00) - (100 Forvik Groats = 1 Forvik Gulde), and entitled Honorary Forvik Citizens the right to buy duty free supplies from "Federated Suppliers" in Shetland, but no information was made available concerning which products were obtainable in this manner, or whom the "Federated Suppliers" in Shetland were. For reasons not given, this Passport option was withdrawn again sometime on June 24th 2008. Also on June 24th 2008 the following seemingly mathematically impossible statement was made concerning the "Forvik" currency: "1 Gulde is about £60 sterling. There are 100 groats in a Gulde. One groat is about £12", however this was revised on June 25th 2008 to the more reasonable "One groat is about £0.6".
Land-owning citizens will have one vote per person concerning issues which arise in the territory, but profits from the income of the territory will be distributed on a per plot basis. The land owning voters will collectively form a ruling council for "Forvik Island", to be known as the "Ting". The Ting will, via a continous online voting system, decide on how profits of the territory will be divided between projects undertaken to benefit the territory, and payouts to its citizens. Non-land owning citizens/Honorary Citizens do not enjoy voting rights, but will be entitled to receive a share in the profits of the territory, as decided by the Ting.
Mr Hill has also extended an invitation to all landowners in Shetland to join with "Forvik Island" in a Federation, which he envisions may possibly develop in to a legitimate alternative form of local government.
Facilities
A landing place for small vessels is available (subject to tidal and weather conditions) on the foreshore of the island, and it is stated that there are plans to construct a better harbour in the near future. Currently there is no permanent accomodation or living facilities on the island, but initial site work has commenced on a planned 5 metre x 5 metre permanent basic accomodation unit, which one report states will be constructed from laminated timber, hardboard, polythene, turf and netting. Mr Hill is further quoted in the same report as saying that he had been granted planning permission for this construction by the "Forvik planning authorities" "without any problems and no red tape", suggesting that some basic form of building regulation and control also already exists within the territory. There are tentative plans for the provision of landing facilities and ancillary services for aircraft, however this has only reached the site identification stage at the time of writing.
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General Information
Until such time as all 8000 plots of land on "Forvik Island" have been sold, one Forvik Gulde will be deposited in a holding account for each plot that is sold. Once payment for all 8000 plots has been received, this money is to be used for a "purpose to be disclosed at a later stage to the benefit of Shetland as a whole". Presumedly Mr Hill has already made plans for this sum, and will reveal them in time. In the initial citizenship pricing structure the total possible final amount within this holding account would have been 8000 Forvik Gulden (approx GB Pounds Sterling 440,000). The proposed fate of the remaining balance of 4 Forvik Gulden per plot sold at a cost received for each plot sold of 5 Forvik Gulden, which would have amounted to a maximum of 32,000 Forvik Gulden/approx GB Pounds Sterling 1.76 Million, was not stated at that time. Under the revised pricing structure for plot sales introduced on June 23rd 2008 the maximum possible final amount within the holding account remains at 8000 Forvik Gulden (approx GB Pounds Sterling 440,000), and the remaining maximum possible balance from plot sales is reduced to an equal sum, no details of the proposed fate of which have yet been revealed.
As no information is available to suggest otherwise, it is at this stage probably reasonable to presume that all constitutional, govermental and regulatory plans and decisions which have thus far been made and stated concerning this new territory, are solely the personal plans and decisions of Mr Hill. Likewise, any title, position and/or role/decision of public office which is held/made, or appears to be held and/or have been made from the evidence avaiable, are all roles created by Mr Hill, held by himself, and the plans/decisons of them are his own personal ones.
Response and Further Information
The response to the above announcements on a UK national governmental level, when approached for comment, has been very little so far. Simply to re-state that as far as they are concerned the territory has been, and still is, an integral part of the U.K. However Mr Hill points out, that as in their response they referred to the territory in question as "Forvik", and not as Forewick Holm, this constitutes recognition by the U.K. Government that "Forvik" exists as an entity. There has been no known official response on a regional governmental level from the Scottish Parliament, and its local member, MSP Tavish Scott is quoted in one report as simply stating that a percentage of Shetland's population are known to be in favour of some greater degree of autonomy than at persent. Spokespersons representing the local government from both elected and civil service sectors have both been reported as denying having any prior knowledge of the creation of this new territory, and making only minimal general comment concerning its existence. However, in the Shetland News report at (1) (below) SIC Convenor Sandy Cluness, who in the past has been active in seeking greater local autonomy, is stated as not having dismissed Mr Hill's actions "out of hand", but was waiting "to see how this goes".
Speaking on 25 June, Mr Hill mysteriously predicted that his new scheme would "come to a confrontation [with the authorities] at some point', either "physical or in the courts"' [1].
A Website forvik.com was launched on June 21st 2008 by Mr Hill. This site went down sometime between 01.30 BST Sept. 25th and 21.30 BST Sept 27th 2008, and came back online as a remodelled version before 18.00 BST Sept 29th 2008.
Another Website forvik.net launched on June 23rd 2008 (allegedly created by opponents of Mr Hill).
A Shetland News report can be found here, and the full text of the Forvik Declaration of Direct Dependence can be found here or here.
Since his somewhat unusual arrival in Shetland in 2001, as a shipwrecked lone sailor, Mr Hill has been a longtime and tireless campaigner for Shetland Independence, arguing that, in his opinion, the claim by Scotland and the U.K. on Shetland is invalid. In his pursuit he has undertaken numerous initiatives, both conventional and unusual, to publicise and attempt to gain support for his stance, with varying degrees of success.
As this is a current and ongoing situation, this page will be updated as and when developments occur.
