The article says the U.S. and Spain have a treaty stating Spanish ships remain Spain’s property. If so, how is this an outrageous situation? Shouldn’t the company have researched the law before spending all that money?
Likewise, U.S. ships remain the property of the United States, no matter where in the World they sank.
In fact, this long standing tradition, codified in maritime law, even extends to the fact that the United States retains sovereign rights to the wreck of the Confederate warship CSS Alabama which was sunk in French waters.
The company knew the law perfectly well. This case was being discussed in Spanish naval history forums a few years ago and the company tried to hide the fact that they were salvaging a Spanish warship (Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes) by claiming that they had salvaged a wreck they code named the “Black Swan” somewhere in the Atlantic.