ALWAYS BE YOURSELF, UNLESS YOU CAN BE A PIRATE. THEN ALWAYS BE A PIRATE

By Bob Walsh

 

It was the floating pirate radio station whose mission to was to transmit rock 'n' roll to the masses. Radio Caroline first began broadcasting in March 1964 from a 702-ton former Danish passenger ferry, the Fredericia, in international waters off the coast of Felixstowe. Above: The boat in 1967

 

Radio Caroline, the pirate radio station broadcasting from a boat in the North Sea to the United Kingdom, has been doing it's thing for 60 years.

Back in 1964 most of the U.K. had BBC and that was it.  So a possibly crazy Irishman set up a boat a tad more than 3 miles off shore and began playing rock-and-roll, which the BBC ignored.

 

 

The station re-started for a second time in August 1983 from new ship the MV Ross Revenge.

 

The sea based broadcasts were interrupted a time or two for this and that, and now Radio Caroline is mostly land-based, but every now and again they go off shore just to do their thing and remind themselves of how it used to be.  The government even passed legislation which interfered with their ability to sell commercial time.  

In any event the station is still popular and going reasonably well.  (They even made a movie about the early days.  It wasn't too shabby.)  Also, pulling the tiger's tail can be fun, even if hazardous to your well-being.