Spain recently sent two military transport planes to Florida
to retrieve 17 tons of treasure that U.S. undersea explorers found but
ultimately lost in American courts, a find experts have speculated could be the
richest shipwreck treasure in history.
The Civil Guard said agents would take possession of the booty,
worth an estimated euro380 million ($504 million), and two Spanish Hercules
transport planes will bring it back.
The action follows a federal judges ordering Tampa-based
Odyssey Marine Exploration to give
Spanish officials access to the silver coins and other artifacts beginning
Tuesday.In another story -
Peru lay claim to the treasure but it's claim rejected by Spain.
Odyssey found them in a Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, in
2007 off Portugal. Spain argued successfully in court that it never relinquished
ownership of the ship or its contents.
The Spanish Culture Ministry said Monday the coins are classified as national
heritage and as such must stay inside the country and will be displayed in one
or more Spanish museums. It ruled out the idea of the treasure being sold to
ease Spain's national debt.
Besides its debt woes, Spain is saddled with a nearly dormant economy and a 23
percent jobless rate.
Odyssey made an international splash in 2007 when it recovered the 594,000 coins
and other artifacts from the Atlantic Ocean near the Straits of Gilbraltar. At
the time, experts said the coins could be worth as much as $500 million to
collectors, which would have made it the richest shipwreck treasure in history.
The company said in earnings statements that it has spent $2.6 million
salvaging, transporting, storing and conserving the treasure.
Odyssey fought Spain's claim to the treasure, arguing that the wreck was never
positively identified as the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes. And if it was that
vessel, then the ship was on a commercial trade trip — not a sovereign mission —
at the time it sank, meaning Spain would have no firm claim to the cargo,
Odyssey argued. International treaties generally hold that warships sunk in
battle are protected from treasure seekers.
The Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes was sunk by British warships in the Atlantic
while sailing back from South America with more than 200 people on board. |
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