Odyssey still in court - Salvage rights to the $500 million worth of sunken treasure
Arizona Coin Collector
http://megayachtnews.com/News/3004.html
The Trition-Megayacht News
26 December, 2008 05:04:00
Odyssey still in court
Odyssey Marine Exploration, the world's only publicly
traded company (NasdaqCM: OMEX) dedicated to deep
ocean shipwreck exploration, is still in court for
the salvage rights to the $500 million worth of sunken
treasure it recovered off of Portugal in 2007.
It has requested salvage rights to the 17 tons of
Colonial-era coins.
But Spain has claimed sovereign immunity, claiming
the treasure was carried by a Spanish warship known
as the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes and is immune
from any U.S. claim.
In mid-November, Tampa-based Odyssey filed its response,
which was accompanied by more than 1,000 pages of
supportive documentation, asserting that sovereign
immunity only applies on military ships on a
noncommercial mission, according to a story in the Tampa
Tribune. The Mercedes wasn't on an exclusively military
mission when it sank south of Portugal in 1804, the
company said, and there were no signs or evidence of a
ship at the site. The company says the majority of the
cargo was commercial cargo that was privately owned.
The admiralty case is pending in U.S. District Court in
Tampa. A judge must first decide whether the U.S. court
has jurisdiction over the case.
"As the public will now see, there are many facts that
contradict the claims made by Spanish experts related
to the site," Odyssey Chief Executive Officer Greg
Stemm said in a public statement, noting that several
descendents of the private merchants on the ship have
expressed interest in their share of the salvage.
"We find them to be as puzzled as we are that Spain
would seek to obtain sole rights to the coins
recovered by Odyssey," Stemm said.
Laws grant nations sovereign immunity over sunken
warships in international waters. If the Mercedes is
deemed to be a warship, Odyssey could be ordered to
return the coins to Spain.
In related news, on Jan. 15, Discovery Channel
begins an 11-part series on treasure recovery
featuring Odyssey.
..