Posted on 05/09/2008 6:41:53 AM PDT by Joiseydude
MADRID, Spain — Spain formally laid claim Thursday to a shipwreck that yielded a US$500 million treasure, saying it has proof the vessel was Spanish.
Officials demanded the return of the booty recovered last year by a U.S. deep-sea exploration firm, saying the 19th-century shipwreck at the heart of the dispute is the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes — a Spanish warship sunk by the British navy southwest of Portugal in 1804 with more than 200 people on board.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I was amused by that aspect too. “Give it back! We stole it fair and square!”
I think that a strong argument could be made that the gold and silver belongs to the Indians, who owned it long before the Spanish ever stepped foot into South America.
Not as strong as you think. You say the title to the gold is held by the Aztec (or whatever) Empire? How do you plan to return to gold?
Goold said at a Madrid news conference that he expected Odyssey would keep "not a penny" of the salvage.
So the salvage crew locates it, retrieves it from the sea, and the Spanish government want it ALL? Wow!
One thing Spain has going for them in my book (and I’m loathe to see an ass sitting government step in and confiscate something they would never have put the time and resources into finding themselves) is that, IIRC, John Edwards has an approximately 10% stake in this treasure.
As most Mexicans are descendants of Indians (who never really disappeared after the Spanish Conquista), give it to Mexico?
That’s the weak part of the argument.
I’m not an expert, but I recall reading about a Russian warship sunk in the Baltic during WWI. I believe legally, a warship remains the property of the nation it belonged to. A merchant ship does not. it’s fair game to salvagers altho the shipping line would have a claim. If I recall, the salvagers of the czarist battleship worked out a 50-50 split with the Soviets.
The same basis for any government claim againt private enterprise - greed and the long history of taking form those who earned and rsiked to accumulate.
Warships carry weapons, merchant ships carry treasure. If I were the salvager, I would turn over all the cannons and whatnot to Spain and keep the treasure. (Thereby closing the warship-merchant loophole.)
A minimal start. I was thinking maybe we could scatter money in the ocean and get them to retrieve it. However, lawyers don’t work for their booty, they sue someone else for it.
A good start...
What do you call a bus of lawyers that goes over a cliff with two empty seats?
Ah, but the government will redistribute the wealth to the “childwen” and others who deserve it more than the evil capitalist pigs who stole it from spain, so therefore, it’s ok. After all, it’s not fair for some to succeed while others will fail, we must evenly distribute the wealth for everyone to share!
The Russian battleship was carrying gold to England to pay for armaments.
Who were the Inca? Irish Christians?
Ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.