Mott, J.L.

Mr J.L. Mott, a retired Danish sea captain, provided the world with some amusement, before World War II, when he established the Empire of Atlantis and Lemuria on Thore (Atlantis), a small island in the Bahamas, together with a few islands in the Pacific (Lemuria). He produced his own banknotes and distinctive triangular stamps as well as an Atlantean flag. I wonder what Plato would have said! It seems that Mott also claimed to be a descendant of Leif Erikson.

Coincidentally, there was a J. L.Mott Ironworks in New York which designed and constructed an ornamental fountain in Shelbyville, Kentucky^(b) and entitled it ‘Atlantis’!

A 1953 newspaper report^(d) adds a few further details regarding Mott and his disappearance in 1934. Egerton Sykes appears to have unsuccessfully sought any additional information^(e).

Recently I came across a site^(a) which recounts the Mott story but adds an image and text where it refers to C. L. Matt!

Another site^(c) also tells the Mott story, including his disappearance, this time, in 1940.

^(a)  https://web.archive.org/web/20160405080250/https://www.cinderellas.info/columns/Atlantis/index.html

>^(b) https://www.kaintuckeean.com/2010/03/no-destination-shelbyille-fountain.html (link broken)<

^(c) https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/2015/november/1935-cover-keeps–mystery-of–lost-continent-of-atlantis-alive.html

^(d) https://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/131644173?searchTerm=Plato Atlantis&searchLimits=sortby=dateAsc

^(e) Atlantis Vol.4, No.6. March 1952

See Principality of Atlantis, Micropatrology