[Archport] Sítio arqueológico com tesouro terá sido pilhado de águas portuguesas

["Alexandre Monteiro" <alexandre.monteiro@gmail.com>]

Continua a saga do Black Swan. Para uma maior apreciação do caso Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, há que ler a revista do IPA, vol 1, nº 2: http://www.ipa.min-cultura.pt/pubs/RPA/v1n2/folder/219-230.pdf

 

 

 

 

Recovered treasure came from Spanish shipwreck
By Martin Delfín
Thursday, September 20, 2007

*MADRID:* Odyssey Marine Exploration, the U.S. treasure hunter, has
acknowledged that it recovered more than 11,000 Spanish gold and silver
coins as part of its much-publicized haul from a shipwreck whose
ownership is being challenged by Spain, court papers show.

Britain has given Spain copies of two export licenses that Odyssey
officials filed with the Gibraltar government detailing the booty it
shipped out to the United States on two private transport planes. The
treasure was flown to New York on April 10 and May 14.

The Spanish government filed the export licenses late Wednesday with
U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida, where Spain is challenging
Odyssey's petitions to exclusive salvage rights on three shipwreck sites
that the company said it discovered this year in the Atlantic and
Mediterranean.

Besides the 10,800 silver and 203 gold coins, Odyssey told the Gibraltar
customs authorities that it also brought to the surface three gold
boxes; copper, tin and bronze ingots; a cannonball; and a bronze pulley
wheel.

It estimated the value of the trove at $1.49 million.

In its application for the second export license, Odyssey said it was
transporting "557 plastic buckets containing clumps of encrusted silver
coins" and four copper ingots now worth an estimated $2.5 million.

The Tampa company made international headlines when it announced in May
that it had recovered more than 500,000 silver coins from a shipwreck it
discovered in the Atlantic.

But until now, Odyssey has declined to say where it had found the ship
to prevent ransacking by other treasure-hunters and speculation about
the value of the coins.

Spain claims it has a right to any of its historical property under
international law.

It has demanded that Odyssey release the details of its findings to
determine whether it should continue to pursue ownership.

The legal battle came to a head this summer when the Spanish Civil Guard
boarded Odyssey's ship Ocean Alert as it left Gibraltar after a Spanish
judge issued a search warrant.

James Goold, a lawyer who is representing Spain, said "that from the
start of this action Odyssey has concealed information required by" the
court and "continues to do so now."

He asked a federal judge to dismiss Odyssey's salvage-right claims on
all three shipwrecks, arguing also that the district court did not have
jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to decide what
rightfully belongs to Spain.

Odyssey said that the treasure was recovered from the bottom of the
Atlantic Ocean about 180 nautical miles west of Gibraltar.

It had code-named the shipwreck the Black Swan, but some Spanish
historians say they believe it may be the Nuestra Señora de las
Mercedes, which was sunk by a British fleet off the coast of Portugal in
1804.

"Nothing recovered to date from the subject unidentified shipwreck
vessel confirms an interest in the artifacts of any third party
including the Kingdom of Spain," Allen von Spiegelfeld, a lawyer for
Odyssey, told a judge last month.

Spain is challenging ownership on the three shipwreck sites discovered
by Odyssey this year, including a passenger ship that sunk off the coast
of Sardinia in 1915 and a vessel it found about 40 nautical miles off
the coast of Lands End, Britain.

Spain asked that the court, if it denies its motion, require Odyssey to
fully disclose the information it has on all three shipwreck sites.

A judge has given both sides until next month to come up with deadlines
for future filings.

Copyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune