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  • THURSDAY MAY 31 2007 11:00 AM

An International Fight for Booty

Submitted by Rahodeb

Edited by Rahodeb



If a plane crashes halfway between the US and Spain, where do you bury the survivors? Or, more to the point, if a colonial-era ship carrying 500,000 gold and silver coins sinks outside any country's territorial waters, who cashes in when it's found: the country it departed from all those centuries ago, or the country that recently discovered it?

This is the question at the heart of a controversy involving the US, Spain and England, regarding a colonial-era shipwreck filled with an estimated $500 million in treasure. Spain has filed claims against Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Tampa, Florida-based company that recently revealed it had discovered and mined the shipwreck at the bottom of the Atlantic (it's discovery seems to have occurred late last year).

The attorney representing Spain says if the sunken ship is in fact Spanish, or if it was found in Spanish waters, the loot goes to Spain.

Britain is claiming the ship as it's own Merchant Royal, and Odyssey Marine Exploration agrees that it's the British ship, which is believed to have gone down in 1641 around the Western Approaches of the English Channel. In fact, in September, 2006, Odyssey Marine filed a petition in a Florida court asking the court to name them the salvor-in-possession of a 17th century shipwreck 40 miles off the coast of England. However, Odyssey claims that the historic find is beyond any national territorial waters, entitling them to all of the booty. Arrr, so, who will ultimately lay claim t' the sunken treasure? A pence for an old man o'de sea? Aye, time will tell, but my money is on Odyssey. Ye'll ne'er get me buried booty!

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Comments
erratic_prophet

erratic_prophet

San Diego, CA
December 2006

MAY 31, 2007 11:08 AM

Y'arr, this chair is too high, says I.

CherryCoke

CherryCoke

Derry, NH
May 2007

MAY 31, 2007 11:13 AM

I think the phrase "finders keeper" applies in this case.
I mean, if I found a dollar on the street, I wouldn't have to give it to the country I found it in.
Granted, there's a lot of money riding on the decision, so of course people are going to fight about it.


ARRR!!!

TheRedBaron

TheRedBaron

Cambridge, MA
November 2003

MAY 31, 2007 11:14 AM

That is such a cool job.

VampiressLupus

vampiresslupus

Hampstead, NC
May 2007

MAY 31, 2007 11:21 AM

I say they just give it all to me...it would save them their trouble. *nods*

Chainlink

Chainlink

Key West, FL
August 2005

MAY 31, 2007 11:23 AM

International law usually applies 90% of the recovered value to the salvage firm. But it gets very complicated and thats not always the case.

RileyStClair

RileyStClair

Los Angeles, CA
September 2006

MAY 31, 2007 11:29 AM

sounds like a case for chareth cutestory, pirate lawyer!

zyryx

zyryx

Tyler, TX
April 2004

MAY 31, 2007 11:43 AM

finders keepers... if Spain thought they had a wreck out there with lots o' gold, then they should have been out there trying to salvage it their damn selves. ARRR!!!

meatpieboy

meatpieboy

Korea, D.P.R.
June 2004

MAY 31, 2007 01:21 PM

Yeah. It's not like they knew about it and were just keeping it safe down there.

"No, dude, I TOTALLY knew that stuff was down there! We were, like, saving it for a rainy day! Now give it back! MOM!!! MOOOOOMMM!!!"

Ms_Magdalena

Ms_Magdalena

Minneapolis, MN
February 2007

MAY 31, 2007 01:35 PM

magpieboy said:
Yeah. It's not like they knew about it and were just keeping it safe down there.

"No, dude, I TOTALLY knew that stuff was down there! We were, like, saving it for a rainy day! Now give it back! MOM!!! MOOOOOMMM!!!"



*finger hovering around face*

"I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! Can I have it yet? I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! Can I have it yet?"

quietlythere

quietlythere

USA
June 2004

MAY 31, 2007 02:00 PM

I'm waiting for these coins to appear on the 3am tv sales shows for $29.95 while supplies last.

ardour

ardour

Canada
March 2006

MAY 31, 2007 02:14 PM

This is interesting. I wonder what people would think if the ship sank only, say, twenty years ago, but in the same place and there were goods belonging to people still alive or their children. Would the law be different then?

ZPO

ZPO

Roy, WA
July 2004

MAY 31, 2007 03:25 PM

I'm waiting for some international maritime lawyers to weigh in on this one. Since the ship is in international waters and probably wouldn't be considered a historic shipwreck, the general maritime law of finds would apply.

Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

MAY 31, 2007 05:29 PM

law of the sea.

Qiqel

Qiqel

Japan
January 2004

MAY 31, 2007 07:54 PM

CherryCoke said:
I think the phrase "finders keeper" applies in this case.
I mean, if I found a dollar on the street, I wouldn't have to give it to the country I found it in.
Granted, there's a lot of money riding on the decision, so of course people are going to fight about it.


ARRR!!!



It doesn't. If you find a jar of roman gold coins in any European country, you wouldn't see a penny. All will go to the museum. Granted, they will probably pay you some "reward" but it'd be nothing close to the worth of the find. Such is the law when it comes to treasures of historic value.

If the ship was in the national waters, then they are plain thieves when they ignore the law. If the ship was in the international waters, then the matter is much more complicated... but still it hardly belongs to them "automatically". If sheep or the cargo was government propriety it stays government propriety forever and Odyssey would probably lose in court.

It's the same in the US. Anybody remembers the guy who salvaged crashed WWII Corsair fighter, put it to pieces, and then the navy said they are going to take it from him? That's how it works. (Granted in this case they gave up due to public outrage, but if it went to court, they'd get the fighter).

punk

punk

Phoenix, AZ
January 2004

MAY 31, 2007 08:14 PM

Hrm. Interesting. How long do rights to property last? Does Spain have a legitimate claim to said property, even if it's been sunk for several hundred years?

On the other hand, I haven't read anything about the Spanish government doing a lot to find the wreck. "Oh, gee, you found that for us? Thanks a lot! Can we have it, please?"

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