[Archport] Plundering the oceans: Who rules the waves?

[Alexandre <no.arame@gmail.com>]

Plundering the oceans: Who rules the waves?


CNN, 19/10/2007, By Dean Irvine

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A sunken galleon, modern-day treasure
hunters, a fortune in silver coins and the Spanish navy.

Facing up to a Spanish warship: Odyssey's battle with Spain continues
in the high-stakes world of "commercial archeology."

 1 of 2  It sounds like the recipe for a great swashbuckling yarn, but
is actually the cast and crew of a real-life struggle for millions of
dollars worth of lost treasure currently being played out on the high
seas.

Rather than cut-throat pirates following maps to mysterious
coordinates, these days the search for undiscovered riches beneath the
waves is being led by well-funded private companies.

This week a Spanish warship held an American treasure hunting vessel,
the Odyssey Explorer at gunpoint, ordering it to return to port in
Algeciras, Spain, where it was searched for clues as to the
whereabouts of a shipwreck that has uncovered a fortune in treasure.

It was the latest episode in a battle between the salvage vessel's
owners, Odyssey Marine Exploration, and the Spanish authorities,
sparked by Odyssey's recovery of 17 tons of silver Spanish coins worth
an estimated $500 million in May this year.

Such an incredible haul has attracted plenty of interest in Odyssey's
activities and drawn attention to the methods and means of modern day
treasure hunters and what they euphemistically call "commercial
archeology."

Spain's culture minister Cesar Antonio Molina said the government
viewed Odyssey's work as modern-day piracy, claiming it had the right
to all its historical property under international law. Odyssey
countered that it had acted in accordance with the U.N. Laws of the
Sea in recovering the coins from the as yet unidentified wreck it has
code named "Black Swan."

All sea-born treasure hunters are bound by the U.N. Law of the Sea.
Even if a claimant for any salvage does come forward, under the Law of
Salvage, the company that finds and recovers the treasure is entitled
to a whopping 90 percent of the find.

On the surface the conflict seems to have arisen between Spain and
Odyssey over the location and identity of the wreck. Odyssey has
refused to make public its position, apart from saying it lies 180
nautical miles west of Gibraltar in international waters. As well as
claims to its cultural history, Spanish authorities claim that the
wreck is actually in Spanish waters.

Adding some additional spice to the dispute and rekindling
centuries-old maritime rivalries, the Spanish government has accused
Britain of being complicit in transporting the sunken treasure to
Odyssey Maritime Exploration's base in Tampa, Florida as it was flown
out of Gibraltar.

Extortion, cloaks and daggers

But Odyssey believes there is a more sinister force at work that
trying to scupper their operations, one that began before the dive of
another wreck, the 17th century English vessel, the HMS Sussex.

"I don't think this situation is driven by the Spanish government as
much as by individuals who have another agenda," Odyssey co-founder
Greg Stemm told CNN.

"A few years ago we were approached by a couple of relatively powerful
people in Spain and told if they were included in the HMS Sussex
project all issues would go away, but if they weren't they would cause
all sorts of legal and political problems; that's about the time all
the political and legal problems started for us."

Odyssey say they had worked in harmony and by all the rules with the
Spanish government for years before all the trouble started.

"We've tended to be very gracious with the Spanish government. I don't
believe they are working from all the facts, but when they do find
out, I hope they'll pursue these extortionists with the vigor they've
gone after Odyssey."

Marine archeologist Joe Flatman, of UCL, told CNN: "With such huge
amounts of money involved in salvage work, it's a booming area,"

"There are all sorts of organizations around the world that simply
avoid the bad press that Odyssey gets, by not talking to anyone about
anything. It can be incredibly hard to find out what's going on or
even find out who is behind some of these companies. They are so well
guarded," said Flatman.

As for future operations, Stemm estimates there are about 3,000 good
wrecks yet to be excavated that will keep their company, and their
rivals, busy.

Stemm says the reason for not making public the location of the "Black
Swan" is because of other less scrupulous salvage companies who have a
history of "ripping wrecks to shreds with no regard for archeology."

"While we're getting criticized for doing the right thing, others are
getting away with things that aren't legal. How much does that
encourage you to do the right thing?" said Stemm.

Treasure recovery is a high-cost, high-risk business, and locating a
site and excavating it can take years. But for all the hi-tech diving
equipment and deep-sea exploratory equipment, perhaps the most
valuable addition to Odyssey's kit at the moment is its legal team.

The dispute with Spain has already gone to a federal court in the U.S.
and it looks like it will be down to the legal teams to clear up the
murky waters of who has rights to what.

Cultural theft or fair game?

It's not just a tug of war between treasure hunters and governments,
another group are adding their voice to the chorus of disapproval of
the practices of private treasure hunters; curators and archeologists
who claim that treasure hunting is another form of cultural theft.

"Commercial treasure hunters haven't got a great track record," Dr
Damien Robinson of the Center for Maritime Archeology at Oxford
University told CNN.

"In 1999, a treasure hunter called Mike Hatcher uncovered some really
interesting sites in the South China Sea, including rare porcelain
from the Tek Sing, but dealt with the treasure with absolute
contempt."

Even though Odyssey have archeologists on their salvage vessels and
advise throughout the project there are doubts that historical record
is high up the list of priorities for treasure hunting companies.

"I can cope with Odyssey being out there doing their thing because
they are not as bad as some other such organizations," said Flatman.

"From what I can see, Odyssey have broken no laws, but one possibility
to protect salvage in the future might be for the UNESCO Convention on
the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage to be ratified."

So far only 16 states including Spain have signed it -- the UK and
U.S. have not -- and it needs four more for it to be ratified.

"You might think the UK government hadn't signed up because it wanted
to exploit the value of this treasure ship. The UK is still claiming
that the HMS Sussex is a sovereign warship," said Robinson.

As for the fate of the "Black Swan," Spanish media have suggested the
wreck could be the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, however other
reports have said the $500 million haul could be from the English
ship, the Merchant Royal that was carrying stolen Spanish treasure
when it sank in 1641.

If that was the case the UK might claim sovereign right to the ship,
the Spanish could continue to claim it is part of its cultural
heritage, Odyssey meanwhile will stay tight-lipped and claim finders
keepers.