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Odyssey Makes Case For Sunken Treasure
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Published: November 19, 2008
TAMPA - Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Tampa company that recovered sunken treasure worth an estimated $500 million from the Atlantic Ocean in 2007, tried knocking down Spain's claim to the loot in papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tampa.
Spain claims the treasure - 17 tons of Colonial-era coins - was carried by a Spanish warship known as the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes and is immune from any U.S. claim. Spain has claimed ownership of the haul.
Odyssey blasted Spain's claim, arguing sovereign immunity applies only to military ships on a noncommercial mission. The Mercedes wasn't on an exclusively military mission when it sank south of Portugal in 1804, the company says.
"As the public will now see, there are many facts that contradict the claims made by Spanish experts related to the site," Odyssey CEO Greg Stemm said in a statement Tuesday.
A judge will decide whether the court has jurisdiction over the case.
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