Treasure hunters must return $500m haul BARCELONA: It is one of the greatest underwater treasure troves of all time, a glittering haul of gold and silver recovered from a mysterious sunken Spanish galleon and secretly flown across the Atlantic to the US. But an epic battle over ownership of 594,000 gold and silver coins scattered on the ocean floor has ended with victory for the Spanish government, with the American treasure-hunter Odyssey Marine Exploration ordered to send the valuable haul back home. A jubilant Spanish government announced on Wednesday the $500 million worth of gold and silver coins found at a site that Odyssey called ''Black Swan'' would be back on Spanish soil within 10 days. ''This sentence gives Spaniards back what was already theirs,'' the Culture Minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, said. ''There is a space of 10 days in which the coins must be returned.'' The court decision puts an end to nearly five years of intrigue since Odyssey scooped the precious haul from the Atlantic seabed in May 2007. To the fury of Spanish authorities, it secretly landed the trove in Gibraltar and flew it out in chartered aircraft to its base in Florida. An American circuit court judge has upheld a decision by Atlanta judge Mark Pizzo, who declared the trove came from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish frigate sunk by a British squadron off Cape St Mary, Portugal, in October 1804. The judge rejected Odyssey's argument that there was no clear wreck site, with the coins scattered so widely it was impossible to say exactly which vessel they came from. The treasure-hunting company, he said, had set out to find the Mercedes and had done so. Rightful ownership of the coins, which fill 600 barrels, now belongs to Spain and to descendants of the 250 Spanish sailors who were lost when the vessel blew up. However, the whereabouts of a further 400,000 coins from the Mercedes remains a mystery. The treasure was found by one of Odyssey's remote-controlled, deep sea robots as it scoured the seabed 1100 metres down. Odyssey's decision to use Gibraltar led to a tense stand-off with the Spanish navy in disputed waters off the Rock. Guardian News & Media Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/treasure-hunters-must-return-500m-haul-20120202-1qvo9.html#ixzz1lGD9znkA
Hmm wonder if they can sue for costs for recovery. Maybe Spain should foot the bill for getting them off the sea floor, but then again if OME knew they were pulling a sly one, they should suck it up.
another haul http://www.smh.com.au/world/treasure-hunter-claims-3-billion-haul-on-war-wreck-20120203-1qw8f.html Treasure hunter claims $3 billion haul on war wreck February 3, 2012 Treasure hunters claim to have found the wreck of a British steamer that was torpedoed by the Germans off the US coast in 1942 while carrying a cargo of Soviet precious metals worth 2 billion ($2.95 billion). Greg Brooks, the co-founder of a US treasure hunting company called Sub Sea Research, said he was certain the sunken ship was the SS Port Nicholson and that its cargo of platinum, gold and industrial diamonds packed in wooden boxes was intact. "We have verified these boxes have unusually high mass as one would expect for bullion," he said. "I am going to get it one way or another even if I have to lift the ship out of the water." If confirmed, the discovery would be one of the biggest treasure troves to be found on the sea bed, and would likely lead to a messy international legal battle for ownership rights. Mr Brooks found the wreck in 2008 but kept his find secret until now while quietly securing salvage rights. He said his team had identified 30 boxes scattered around the wreck which he believed were stuffed with platinum ingots. The SS Port Nicholson was sunk by two torpedoes from a U-boat with the loss of six lives as it made its way from Halifax in Canada to New York. Escorted by an unusually high number of warships, it was reported to be carrying a Soviet cargo of precious metals meant to recompense the US government for military supplies. The cargo was reportedly accompanied by two Soviet envoys who survived the attack only to then mysteriously disappear when brought ashore in the United States. The Soviet government is reported to have subsequently reimbursed the US government for the lost payment. Mr Brooks said he had found the wreck in 700 feet of water off Cape Cod off America's east coast using shipboard sonar and had later used underwater cameras and remotely operated underwater vehicles to explore the wreck. Underwater vehicles have been unable to even lift the boxes because of their weight and Mr Brooks is raising fresh funds to finance the salvage operation. Some experts have advised caution, saying it is too early to say whether Mr Brooks's suspicions about the ship's cargo are right. The British Government is watching proceedings and has not ruled out making an ownership claim. Anthony Shusta, a Florida-based lawyer representing the Government, said it was unclear whether the ship had such a treasure trove. "We are still researching what was on the vessel," he said. "Our initial research indicated it was mostly machinery and military stores."
Admiralty law ..... there is a lot of funny business going on the high seas, or should that be "seize" ...
do the records of world inventories of precious metals ever mined include lost goods due to boating accidents and "other" ?
The old saying comes to mind. " Keep it to yourself" whilst doing it with these amounts would be difficult to say the least, the fewer people that know about your stikes, the better.
I've seen one set of figures where there was something like a 2% "lost" column referring to all historical gold production.
If they are the salvagers then they surely must be entitled to a salvage fee of 10%? IDK, that is my vague understanding. Plus, there is still the 'missing' 400,000 coins. One wonders what has become of the coins (if already salvaged). .
I thinks it's BS the government claiming it or even descendants. After 200+ years I think the eminent law of finders keepers should be the call - especially given it was likely looted from South America in the 1st place.
Blow me down. Spain is still a Monarchy. Well even that being true I can't imagine that if my forefathers 200 years ago lost a gold sovereign on Bondi Beach that I'd be able to lay claim to it. Then again I don't have a whole security apparatus at my disposal and nor do I have the capacity, inclination or history of violence that so called legitimate sovereign powers have, use, history of. I'd throw the lot back in the water whence it came and wish them luck
