Spanish government 'suspicious' of Odyssey's deep-sea treasure find

A Bountiful Undersea Find Sure to Invite Debate

Deep-ocean explorers for the company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, located more than 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, along with hundreds of gold coins and other artifacts, in a Colonial-era shipwreck in an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean, the company said in a statement.

The retail value of the silver coins ranges from a few hundred dollars to $4,000 each, with the gold coins having a higher value, the company said.

“All recovered items have been legally imported into the United States and placed in a secure, undisclosed location where they are undergoing conservation and documentation,” according to the statement.

Well this is quite the sunken treasure. What I find odd is why the NY times would include the phrase "Sure to invite debate" is it because it's common for country's to dispute salvage recovery in international waters. Or would it because the company was in Spanish waters and this where the treasure was found?

Spanish government 'suspicious' of deep-sea treasure find

Spain's Culture Ministry said it thought the statement was "suspicious," after Odyssey had sought permission to explore Spanish waters for the wreck of a British ship, according to the national news agency Efe.

Spain granted the company permission in January to search for the HMS Sussex, which sank in a 1694 storm off Gibraltar while leading a British fleet into the Mediterranean Sea for war against France.

That permission was only for exploration, however, and did not extend to extraction, the ministry said, according to Efe. Odyssey had previously been searching off the Spanish coast, but suspended operations there in 2005 after complaints from the Spanish government.

A chartered cargo jet recently landed in the U.S. to unload plastic containers packed with 500,000 coins — expected to fetch an average of US$1,000 (€742) each from collectors and investors.

[edit on 21/5/2007 by Sauron]

thats interesting...good find.
I would love to be a millionair and have my own tropical island
I would say good bye to everyone

Well if Spain would like to claim the coins since the ship was in Spanish waters, that means Britain could also have a claim to them since it was a British ship so therefore British property

Finders keepers, but once the real story comes out its going to be a lot of debate that is for sure.

I can not wait to hear the challenges.

It must have taken them some time to retrieve the treasure, you would think someone from the Spanish gov would have stepped in during the extraction process rather than wait until it was finished..... or maybe that was the plan all along.

I googled maritime law and it mentioned the USA introduced a policy (1987 ) where if the find is located in USA waters, it belongs to the USA.
I would imagine this to be similar for Spain as well.

Would be awful to loose such a find due to legalities.

Just read that court ordered them to return the full treasure to Spain.

Treasure consists of 500.000 silver coins and multiple golden pieces of art, making it the biggest ever found at sea.

The lawyer who represents the firm that recovered the treasure, announced they will appeal this ruling.

edit with link english version : www.earthtimes.org...



[edit on 4-6-2009 by Emipie]

reply to post by Sauron


I can't believe how old this thread is. Saw this on the news this evening. What an incredible story and a real curious issue that will be tough to settle.
This ship sank in 1804 and people are still fighting over it. Of course 500 million is worth fighting for.
I think OME and Spain should agree upon a 50/50 split. Spain would not have found it were not for the Florida explorers and the FL explorers wouldn't have found it if not for Spain losing its property.

Explorers tussle with Spain over treasure in court
www.kansascity.com...

Florida deep-sea explorers asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to overturn an earlier ruling that 17 tons of treasure recovered from a sunken Spanish galleon belongs to Spain, deepening a long-running battle over a trove worth an estimated $500 million that has unfolded not on the high seas but in federal courtrooms.

Attorneys for Odyssey Marine Exploration asked the three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the "finders keepers" rule that would give the treasure hunters the rights to silver coins, copper ingots, gold cufflinks and other artifacts salvaged about four years ago from the galleon off the coast of Portugal.

Spain's lawyers countered that U.S. courts are obligated by international treaty and maritime law to uphold Spain's claim to the haul.

"If we don't afford to Spain the protections of sunken warships, then we can't ask them for the same protections," Swingle said.

Good point, I think.

If it was found in Spanish waters then it surely is the property of Spain, and Odyssey should hand it back IMO.

Let's say you agree when your friendly neighbour down the street asks if he can practice with his new metal-detector in your back yard, but he doesn't tell you he has found a buried box of ancient coins until after he gets back home. He won't give them back, they are his because he found them.

You say the coins belong to you, they were found on your yard. He didn't have permission from you to remove anything from your yard - but he did anyway. So whose are they? I say they are yours and your neighbour should give them back.

It's the same difference here, and Odyssey is guilty of stealing by finding IMO.

By the way, I was just wondering - have either party here ever heard of 'sharing'?

Jeez