Atlantis, Isle of Gold

Not to be confused with Werner Stiefel's similar Atlantis project that planned to seastead in the Caribbean Sea.

Atlantis or the Isle of Gold was a planned island state that William T. Anderson, owner of the Atlantis Development Corp. Ltd., a Bahamian corporation, proposed beginning in the early 1960s to raise by dredging and building up the Triumph and Long Reefs off the Florida coast, a territory he claimed as his own in newspaper classifieds published in November 1962.^[D] The plans were contested in the courts by the United States government, which claimed the reefs as U.S. territory, as well as Louis M. Ray, president of Acme General Contractors, which had a similar plan for the same reefs; ultimately, the courts settled the case in favor of the government.

Declaration (1962)

• "Classified Notice", Orlando Evening Star (Orlando, FL): 7, 23 Nov. 1962, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/291082575/ 
  

  CLAIM OF WILLIAM T. ANDERSON "ATLANTIS ISLE OF GOLD" located in International Waters and not now claimed by any Nation.

  Posit:	NW corner	80-07-45 W Long
  		25-27-15 N Lat
  	NE corner	80-07-00 W Long
  		25-27-06 N Lat
  	SE corner	80-08-10 W Long
  		25-22-20 N Lat
  	SW corner	80-09-00 W Long
  		25-22-33 N Lat

  and all lands within the boundarys thereof.

  Cosat and Geodetic Survey Chart No. 1249 will show land above referred to.

  Claimant is: WILLIAM T. ANDERSON, or Heirs.

  Address: 4249 SW 2nd Street,
  Miami 55, Florida,
  United States of America.

  To hold and own and develop into a Sovereign State subject to the jurisdiction of no State or Nation, and to provide for the government thereof in accordance with the democratic principles and International Law.

  Nov. 23, 30; Dec 7, 14, 1962.

Press Coverage

• AP (17 Jan. 1963), "Floridians Plan To Build Ocean Isle With Casino", Tampa Tribune (Tampa, FL): 45, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/329972337/ 
• Greene, Juanita (20 Dec. 1964), "Scramble Picks Up for New 'Nation'", Miami Herald (Miami, FL): 1, 6, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/620239875 
• Carroll, Margaret (9 Feb. 1968), "'Atlantis' Was to Be Lush Isle", Miami Herald (Miami, FL): 19-C, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/621736626/ 
• AP (24 Jan. 1970), "Court Sinks Plan For 'Reef' Nation", Fort Lauderdale News (Fort Lauderdale, FL), https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/272944564/, "Atlantis backers dreamed of a foreign country to be named 'The Isle of Gold' — a country that would issue its own stamps, distribute its own currency, and even form its own defense department in the shadow of the United States. All these plans were disclosed by Larry Vita, a Miami Beach developer involved in the Atlantis venture. Vita also stressed that the reefs would be beyond the three-mile territorial limits and therefore outside the bounds of U.S. jurisdiction over gambling." 

Court Documents

• https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-ray-15

Analysis

• Lattimer, Gregory M. (1970), "LAW OF THE SEA - The Continental Shelf-United States Proprietary Claim To The Continental Shelf Gives Rise To A New Public Domain. United States v. Ray, 294 F. Supp. 532 (S.D. Fla. 1969).", Land & Water Law Review 5 (2): 509-516, https://scholarship.law.uwyo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1165&context=land_water 

Reading

• Menefee, Samuel Pyeatt (1994), "'Republics of the Reefs:' Nation-Building on the Continental Shelf and in the World's Oceans", California Western International Law Journal 25 (1): 81-111, https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1341&context=cwilj