In 1964, Leicester Hemingway (Ernest Hemingway's little brother) built an 8-by-30 foot floating bamboo platform, dubbed it "New Atlantis," towed it seven miles off the coast of Jamaica, and anchored it to the ocean floor with a Ford engine block. "I can stand on the platform, walk around on it, and salute the flag, all of which I do periodically," he told reporters. "There are no taxes here, because taxes are for people not smart enough to start their own countries."

Shortly thereafter, part of "New Atlantis" was destroyed by fishermen in search of scrap wood; the rest sank in a storm.

[Italian engineering professor Giorgio Rosa once bulit a tower in the Adriatic Sea large enough to contain a restaurant/bar and post office; the Italian army invaded the tower and blew it up. In 1969, Australian wheat farmer seceded from the union, began printing his own money and set up a parliament; two days later, he backed down and agreed to make payments to the Australian government (ie. taxes) as an "international courtesy."]