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Hope runs out for American salvage company’s 1804 Spanish shipwreck claim

Added to the Old Boat Blog on May 12, 2008 at 4:10 am EST

The government of Spain, locked in a heated legal battle over claims to a recently-discovered shipwreck, has presented compelling factual evidence and convincing legal arguments to bolster its rights to sunken treasure.

As we wrote in this post, Odyssey Marine, based in Florida, discovered a ship in May 2007, in international waters, that the company claimed had not been identified. Odyssey gave the ship the temporary appellation The Black Swan.

But the Spanish government, apparently coveting the tons of silver coins found on the ship, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as much as Odyssey, has revealed the results of its own investigation into the ship’s identity.

It is the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which departed Peru in April 1804 laden with tons and tons of pieces of eight minted in 1803 in Peru. The ship was sunk during its voyage to Spain by (guess who) the British in the “Battle of Cape Saint Mary”.

The legalities of the case, divorced as usual from instinctual reality, are complex, and hinge on several factors. For example, two hundred sailors were killed in the battle, making the ship’s location their graveyard. Odyssey can contest that Spain had abandoned the ship, leaving it open to “finders keepers” rules. But Spain can claim that, out of respect for the graveyard of its countrymen, it left the ship alone — and that the American company cravenly plundered the grave.

Whatever the arguments, it seems clear that, Honor and Respect aside, this tale is about good old-fashioned profit. It remains (no pun intended, but enjoyed nonetheless) to be seen if Odyssey can convince the Tampa court of its side of the story.

For the rest of us, we can only imagine finding multiple tons of old silver coins that sunk the year after minting, and have been resting undisturbed in the centuries hence. The value and coolness of such a find boggles the mind. Maybe the winner of the case will put some of the coins up for individual sale to collectors with modestly-sized pocketbooks. Watch this space!

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