US treasure hunters file appeal in "Black Swan" case
AFP
MIAMI- US treasure hunting firm Odyssey filed a challenge Wednesday to a court ruling ordering that it surrender to Spain treasure recovered from a 19th century Spanish shipwreck.
The discovery of the sunken treasure, from a ship code-named "Black Swan," was announced in 2007.
Last September, Spain said the treasure came from the 1804 wreck of the Spanish frigate Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, which sank off southern Portugal with a massive cargo of gold and silver.
The frigate was protected under the principle of "sovereign immunity" that applies to ships belonging to states as well as to wrecks, and which bars "unauthorized intrusion or exploitation for commercial ends," according to Spain's culture ministry.
The Tampa, Florida-based Odyssey was ordered to turn over half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold objects it recovered from the wreck somewhere in "international waters in the Atlantic Ocean."
Odyssey appealed the case on five points, including "clear and convincing evidence" that the vessel's mission at the time was commercial, which "legally nullifies the claim to sovereign immunity of that vessel," and that most of the coins aboard ship were owned by merchants "and were never owned by Spain."
"We know that admiralty law is complex, and the facts of this case are unique," Odyssey vice president and general counsel Melinda MacConnel said in a statement.
"We are confident that the facts and applicable law are in our favor."
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., which focuses on salvaging deep-water shipwrecks, is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
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