What? Do They Think It’ll Help Their Bond Rating?

$500M salvaged treasure being returned to Spain

(AP) TAMPA, Fla. – The transfer of 17 tons of shipwreck treasure wrested away from deep-sea explorers to the Spanish government will be made later this week from a U.S. Air Force base in Florida, officials confirmed Tuesday night.

MacDill Air Force Base said in a statement that it is cooperating with Spanish government officials in the transfer of the 594,000 silver coins and other artifacts that were brought to the surface off the Portuguese coast and flown back to Tampa by Odyssey Marine Exploration in May 2007.

…The treasure is believed to be from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a galleon that was sunk in 1804 by British warships in the Atlantic Ocean while sailing back from South America. More than 200 people were aboard the ship when it sunk.

…Odyssey, which uses remote-controlled vehicles to explore the depths and bring the tiniest of items to the surface, argued that as the finder it was entitled to all or most of the treasure. The Spanish government filed a claim in U.S. District Court soon after the coins were flown back to Tampa, saying it never relinquished ownership of the ship or its contents. A federal district court first ruled in 2009 that the U.S. courts didn’t have jurisdiction, and ordered the treasure returned.

Odyssey argued that the wreck was never positively identified as the 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. International treaties generally hold that warships sunk in battle are protected from treasure seekers.

The company blamed politics for the courts’ decisions since the U.S. government publicly backed Spain’s efforts to get the treasure returned…

Speculation is that this could be the richest shipwreck in history. Good to know you’ve got your own country at your back when you go into this sort of thing…and when you don’t.

3 Responses to “What? Do They Think It’ll Help Their Bond Rating?”

1. Dave E. says:

   February 22, 2012 at 7:15 pm

   The enslaved South American natives who originally mined the precious metals could not be reached for comment.

2. mojo says:

   February 22, 2012 at 9:03 pm

   Are they claiming it was a warship? If not, salvage is to whoever gets to it first.

3. tree hugging sister says:

   February 23, 2012 at 7:56 am

   They tried that argument, mojo…

   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.

   I guess it didn’t fly. But, like I said, the U.S. Government was backing Spain the whole way…