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Spain Demands All Treasure Tampa Salvor Found On Ship

AP file photo

The government of Spain claims a Tampa-based company took treasure from a Spanish shipwreck without permission.

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By RUSSELL RAY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 8, 2008

Updated: 05/08/2008 07:18 pm

TAMPA - Spain claims it has evidence that the sunken treasure recovered last year by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration was taken from a 19th century Spanish warship without consent of the Spanish government, according to papers filed today in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

Spain said the sunken treasure, 17 tons of colonial-era coins worth an estimated $500 million, was taken from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish warship sunk by the British navy south of Portugal in 1804. The Spanish government demanded that the treasure be returned to Spain.

Odyssey, a publicly held deep-sea exploration and salvage company, announced in May 2007 that it had recovered 500,000 gold and silver coins from an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean and flew the treasure to Tampa, claiming at the time it didn't know the identity of the sunken ship.

Shares of Odyssey fell 16 cents, or 3.35 percent, today to $4.62 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock is down 25 percent this year.

An Odyssey spokeswoman said the company wasn't expected to issue a response to Spain's claims tonight.

"We are still waiting on feedback from some board members," said Natja Igney.

An inspection of artifacts on the seabed floor where the treasure was found and an analysis of the artifacts and coins recovered by Odyssey show that the shipwreck is, without question, the Mercedes, Spain said in its latest court filing.

Spain said Odyssey did not have permission to disturb or salvage the shipwreck, the gravesite of hundreds of Spanish sailors.

"Odyssey was aware that Spanish navy vessels are the property of the Kingdom of Spain and may not be disturbed or subjected to salvage operations without the specific and express consent of the Kingdom of Spain," the Spanish government stated in the court filing.

Spain claims the entire treasure should be returned to Spain because naval vessels never cease to be the property of the nation that flagged them, regardless of where they lay.

James Goold, an attorney representing the Spanish government, told reporters in Madrid that Odyssey "secretly stripped a Spanish ship of coins and other artifacts and then tried to hide them by claiming that it did not know the identity of the ship."

Goold said U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo will now convene the two parties to review the case before deciding who gets to keep the treasure, now held in a warehouse somewhere in Tampa.

Goold said he expected Odyssey would keep "not a penny" of the salvage. Odyssey officials have said they believe the court will award them the majority of the treasure, as it was found by Odyssey.

Spain went to the U.S. federal court claiming ownership of the treasure if it turned out to be connected to the country's national heritage.

Goold said Spain's evidence — based on material provided by Odyssey under court order — proved the ship and cargo were definitely Spanish property.

The coins aboard the ship included gold doubloons or "pieces of eight" minted in 1803 in Lima, Peru, bearing the image of Spain's King Carlos IV, said ministry coin expert Carmen Marcos.

In its filing with the U.S. court, Spain said: "Analysis of location information from multiple sources confirms the location on the seabed from which Odyssey took coins and other artifacts is the site of Mercedes."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.

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