Spaniards fly to US for $500m treasure

It seems that Spain will not share the fate of Greece and will avoid a huge crisis. The court battle with Odyssey Marine Exploration, which lasted almost 5 years, ended with a victory. The court finally granted the Spanish the rights to the treasure worth $0.5 billion, excavated by Odyssey several years ago off the coast of Portugal.

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594,000 silver and gold coins from the early 19th century, weighing a total of 17 tonnes, are to be handed over by the Spanish. Experts from the Iberian Peninsula, who had already arrived in Tampa on Tuesday, yesterday examined the coins, excavated by Odyssey in 2007, and prepared them for loading. The treasure is to be handed over to the new owner within 10 days, after which it will be taken to Europe, aboard two giant Hercules transport planes.

Less than a month ago, we informed you that despite losing their case, the treasure hunters decided to appeal to the highest court. Unfortunately, the court rejected the appeal and sent the case back to a lower court in Tampa, Florida. Last Friday, however, it was decided to uphold the verdict granting the Spanish full rights to the treasure.

The whole story begins in 2007. Odyssey Marine Exploration found the wreck of the galleon Nuestra Senora de la Mercedes, sunk by the English in 1804, in Gibraltar waters. The operation was code-named “Black Swan”. After its completion, the entire cargo was transported to the USA. It was then that the Spanish government claimed the coins as its cultural heritage.

Thus began a 5-year battle before the courts in the USA over ownership of the treasure. In the meantime, Peru also filed its claim to the find. The court, however, dismissed it, stating that in the 19th century the present Peru was a Spanish colony and therefore it has no rights to claim the coins which were made in Peruvian mints from ore extracted from Peruvian mines.

Costs incurred by Odyssey for extraction, maintenance and storage are in the region of $2.6m, but it is unlikely that the new owner of the treasure is going to cover these costs in any way.

Odyssey believes that the verdict is the result of political pressure and the case was lost since the US government officially supported the Spaniards’ efforts to return the treasure.

In the diving community and among people following the topic, opinions are extremely divided. Some claim that it was a good thing and Odyssey appropriated the treasure illegally, as it should have gone to a museum, but on the other hand opponents of the verdict put forward arguments that we will probably never know about many more finds. For fear of losing them, the finders will keep everything secret and secretly sell it to private collections.

And given that no one, other than treasure hunters, has the equipment, knowledge or experience to carry out exploration and excavation activities, the situation has become very uninteresting.

Source: myfoxtampabay.com Photo: Odyssey Marine Exploration