Treasure reaches Spain after 208 years

Listen to this article The dispute and handover of the treasure found by Odyssey Marine Exploration to the Spanish is now definitively over. The two planes that arrived in the US to collect the 17 tonne, $500 million find are now back in Spain. Thus, the 5-year long dispute over the ownership rights to 600

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: February 27, 2012 - 13:08

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 06:11

Listen to this article

The dispute and handover of the treasure found by Odyssey Marine Exploration to the Spanish is now definitively over. The two planes that arrived in the US to collect the 17 tonne, $500 million find are now back in Spain. Thus, the 5-year long dispute over the ownership rights to 600 thousand gold and silver coins is finally closed.

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The treasure left the USA aboard 2 Hercules military aircraft and arrived safely on Sunday afternoon at its destination, which was Torrejon Air Base near Madrid. So it took more than 200 years for the coins minted in Peru to reach the royal treasury.

Back in the thread, the Peruvian government tried to fight for the treasure to remain on US soil, which would have opened the possibility of filing an official claim by the Peruvian government against the treasure, but without success.

Odyssey Marine Exploration officials, in a statement, pointed out what a large number of trial observers have been highlighting for some time. This is the danger posed by the court’s ruling leaving Odyssey with nothing. According to them, in the future, in similar situations, we will probably never hear about the found goods, because the finders, in fear of losing them, will simply hide them, melt them down or simply sell them on ebay.

What will it be like in reality? The answer to this question will come in the future, but the bleak scenario outlined by the explorers is very likely and does not bode well.

Source: france24.com
Photo: press materials shipwreck.net

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.