Posted on 09/26/2011 12:23:37 PM PDT by Miami Vice
A sunken treasure worth about $500 million was discovered by an American company has been awarded to Spain by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The treasure-laden Spanish ship was located off the coast of Gibraltar in 2007. It had been sunk during a naval battle with the British navy in 1804.
Several parties made claim to the treasure. The company that made the recovery, Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., the governments of Spain and Peru, and 25 individuals who were descendants of the sailors on the ship.
The federal district court, which heard the original case, ruled ...
(Excerpt) Read more at legalnewsline.com ...
probably because it was reciprocal.
it may be spain’s property, unless it is a military grave site, there are salvage claims that MIGHT be allowed as a percentage of the found ship’s value.
See Post 52 and 56.
In maritime law, there is a difference between salvage rights to a ship that belonged to Acme Shipping Company and a warship that belonged to the U.S. Navy, the Royal Navy, the Spanish Navy or even the Confederate Navy.
Legally and by tradition, warship are considered an extension of the state itself under maritime law, an extensension of "sovereign soil". When the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo Bay aboard USS Missouri, they surrendered on "U.S. soil". That legal state persists even after a warship is sunk and a sunken warship is referred to as a "sovereign wreck."
Only Spain has legal rights to the "sovereign wreck" of the Spanish warship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, the warship in question.
Likewise, only the U.S. Government has rights to a U.S. "sovereign wreck". As the succeeding sovereign to the Confederate States of America, legally, only the U.S. Government has legal rights to the wreck of the Confederate warship CSS Alabama although it currently lies within French territorial waters.
The history of Spain certainly has periods of tragedy. Spain went from the world superpower around 1600 to gradual decline, to catastrophe after the War of the Spanish Succession stripped it of its remaining European possessions.
I did a tutorial with one of my professors on the Golden Age of Spain where we spoke in Spanish and worked with original source materials. Unfortunately, my Spanish is now very rusty after decades of non-use.
Once I got past my Anglophile feelings, it was fascinating to study Spain at the height of its power.
I'll send you the details by FReep Mail.
I certainly knew about Admiral Farragut.
One of his ships at the Battle of Mobile Bay, the USS Monongahela, decades later, caught fire and sank at U.S. Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and I SCUBA dived on it while stationed at there.
However, I never knew that Farragut was the "first" U.S. Admiral. I had never studied the U.S. Navy rank structure that closely prior to Farragut's time. Thanks for the information.
Polybius, my post was tongue in cheek. That being said, while I don’t doubt the present Spanish government declares itself the successor of the 1804 Spanish monarchial government, if you read about the many revolutions Spain has had since then (2 Carlist Wars, deposing King Alfonso in 1931, the 1936 revolt and others) I’d think this declaration is just that—an assertion of power. For that matter, given the notorious infidelity of Queen Isabella II, it’s doubtful the present King of Spain (descended from Isabella) has any airtight claim to being the successor of the King in 1804!
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