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| Captured: Odyssey cofounder Greg Stemm (l.) examines coins he found from a shipwreck. Odyssey Marine Exploration/AP |
An undersea treasure hunt, playing out in court
After an American company excavated millions in dollars in bullion from an old shipwreck, Spanish officials are looking at strategies for protecting the sunken treasure that surrounds its coasts.
from the December 12, 2007 edition
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Spain doesn't see it that way, however, and the case ended up in a federal courthouse in Tampa. While Odyssey hopes to prove ownership of the Black Swan's recovered treasure – valued at perhaps $500 million – the Spanish government has filed a countersuit demanding that the company reveal its findings so that, if appropriate, Spain can claim ownership of the ship and its contents.
Tensions between the two parties increased first in June and again in October when Odyssey ships attempting to leave Gibraltar were forced into Spanish ports and searched by the Civil Guard.
César Antonio Molina, Spain's culture minister, has vowed to fight against the "pillaging" of his country's heritage. He's not alone; in October, Nerea filed its own suit against Odyssey, accusing the American company of committing crimes against Spain's national patrimony.
"What has happened is as serious as if someone had carried off the Giralda," said Mr. Noriega at the time, referring to the famous tower of Seville's cathedral.
Mr. Stemm, whose company intends to sell the recovered coins, rejects those charges. "We don't even know what shipwreck site the Black Swan is, we don't know if its Spanish," he says. "So it doesn't make sense for them to accuse us of stealing Spanish patrimony at this point."
Spain's history of legal misfires
Past Spanish attempts to stop the extraction of treasure from Spanish ships have foundered on the country's own lack of energy in protecting underwater sites.
In 1983, a Florida court ruled that treasure-hunter Mel Fischer was entitled to keep the booty he found at the site of the sunken ship Santa Margarita because "the ship was abandoned … and the Spanish government hasn't expressed interest in declaring itself a successive owner."
The Ministry of Culture is determined not to let that happen again. Its new Plan for Subaquatic Archaeology calls for a comprehensive mapping of known shipwreck sites, and requires that important ones be granted protected status just like historic churches and monuments.
It also clears the way for those sites to be monitored by police, perhaps using the same global positioning satellites used to intercept undocumented immigrants at sea. Wednesday's meeting is intended to hammer out the details of how best the plan's protective measures can be enforced.
No one denies that recent events have forced the government's hand.
"Certainly, the Odyssey case has influenced our thinking," says a culture ministry official. "The need for a plan was reinforced by those events."
But Stemm says that the new tactics will not affect Odyssey's operations because they apply only to territorial waters where, he says, Odyssey does not work "without the knowledge or permission of the Spanish authorities."
Both parties await the next hearing in the Tampa court, which is scheduled for January. In the meantime, Odyssey is making plans for a return expedition to the Black Swan, where, according to the company website, significant artifacts remain.
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