Posted on 05/11/2008 7:15:26 PM PDT by blam
Harold Heckle in Madrid, Spain
Associated Press
May 9, 2008
Spain formally laid claim Thursday to an 1804 shipwreck that yielded a reported U.S. $500 million treasure, saying Spain 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 Señora de las Mercedes—a Spanish warship sunk by the British Navy southwest of Portugal in 1804 with more than 200 people on board.
Tampa, Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration on Thursday disputed Spain's claim. In May 2007, Odyssey announced that it had discovered a wreck in the Atlantic—and its cargo of 500,000 silver coins and other artifacts worth an estimated $500 million.
At the time, Odyssey said it did not know which ship it was. The company flew the treasures back to Florida without Spain's knowledge, from an airport on the British colony of Gibraltar on Spain's southwestern tip.
The company said Thursday that there isn't enough evidence to prove the vessel is the Mercedes. Officials said in a company statement that they had found only cargo from a shipwreck, not the actual vessel.
The Spanish government filed evidence in a Tampa federal court Thursday to support its claim.
"We Want It All Back"
"We are talking about the remains of a Spanish Navy vessel and the human remains of Spanish naval servicemen who died on board, which have been illegally disturbed," Culture Ministry Director General José Jiménez said.
"It is the property of the Spanish Navy, government, and people, and we want it all back," said Adm. Teodoro de Leste Contreras, who runs a naval museum owned by the ministry.
Washington, D.C.-based lawyer James Goold, representing the Spanish government in the case, said U.S. Judge Mark Pizzo will convene the two parties to review the case before deciding who gets to keep the treasure.
Goold said at a Madrid news conference that he expected Odyssey would keep "not a penny" of the salvage. In its statement Odyssey officials said they are surprised the Spanish government has conclusively said "the 'Black Swan' treasure"—Odyssey's internal code name—"is from the Mercedes after viewing site photomosaics and video that show no hull, ballast pile, keel, or vessel, and only a statistically insignificant sample of the coins from the site."
Naval and coin experts say they have proof that the treasure, now held in a warehouse in Florida, came from the Mercedes. The coins included gold doubloons, or pieces of eight, minted in 1803 in Lima, Peru, bearing the image of Spain's King Carlos IV, ministry coin expert Carmen Marcos said.
But Odyssey officials said that if the coins are found to be from the Mercedes, it will be "up to the U.S. District Court to determine the final disposition of the Black Swan treasure," according to the statement.
Exploded in 1804
The Mercedes exploded and sank in a naval battle in 1804 as it sailed back to Spain from South America.
Spain argues that the entire treasure should be returned because naval vessels remain the property of the nation that flagged them, regardless of where they lie, under the principle of sovereign immunity.
"Spain has not abandoned or otherwise relinquished in any way its ownership of Mercedes," Spain's petition said.
Spain's claim said artifacts on the seabed, their distribution, and other characteristics, as well as artifacts taken by Odyssey, "further identify the site as the remains of Mercedes."
Odyssey also said the ship was probably the Mercedes after Pizzo last month forced the company to disclose information on the salvage, including the identity of the ship and its location.
He’d never get away with it today.
Naval and coin experts say they have proof that the treasure, now held in a warehouse in Florida, came from the Mercedes. The coins included gold doubloons, or pieces of eight, minted in 1803 in Lima, Peru, bearing the image of Spain’s King Carlos IV, ministry coin expert Carmen Marcos said.
If this is true and salvage laws do not apply, it wouldn’t matter if it were the Mercedes, the coins with the kings image on them prove they were Spanish. What’s the problem?
What does it say about us, recalling a comedy routine from what, fifty years ago?
He could always tell a camel from other animals by the jump on its back.
Slavery for Gold Reparations? Tack on a torture tax and a wrongful death suit for the Conquistadores and you have the makings of a wonderful court battle.
Salvage laws would certainly apply if it were a privately owned ship, but they might not if it is a navy ship.
I hate to admit that such an idea actually has merit.
The US Navy asserts ownership to its lost vessels regardless
of passage of time under US and International law. Spain
is well within its rights to hold likewize, and a salvor would have an uphill battle in a US court. If the vessel is
a Spanish naval vessel, there is precedent to hold that it and its cargo remain the property of Spain.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org12-7h.htm
"Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes"
Very well done LOL!
Exactly. If it were me, I would say we are bringing it to you after a round the world voyage, and take a stroll over the Marianas Trench where it would accidentally fall overboard.
Put a handfull of US troops to guard it..and invite the Spanish army to come get it!
I think Spain has undergone a few government changes since the early 1800’s. I wonder how that would affect this case if at all?
Except that she was lost in combat with the Royal Navy. If she struck her colors before the explosion, then I would think that the British could lay claim that she had become an English prize of war and that the vessel and her cargo was subject to disposition by an English Prize Court.
Ah, but one thinks that had she struck colors, she would
have been boarded and seized as prize at the time.
Without effectively seizing the vessel (and cargo), any RN
claim would seem to be moot. Plus its status as a war grave
gives the site protection under international law. It was
unwize for the salvors to invest in the project without at
least coming to some agreement with the Spanish.
The Admiralty bar will undoubtedly rack up billable time on that question!
Ah, but one thinks that had she struck colors, she would
have been boarded and seized as prize at the time.
Without effectively seizing the vessel (and cargo), any RN
claim would seem to be moot. Plus its status as a war grave
gives the site protection under international law. It was
unwize for the salvors to invest in the project without at
least coming to some agreement with the Spanish.
The Admiralty bar will undoubtedly rack up billable time on that question!
That is the question we are asking ourselves in Spain. Why the treasure was plundered and how they thought to circumvent international law, the same law which protects, by the way, the secrets of two sunken American nuclear submarines.
Who did they know to carry out such a plan?
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