Odyssey treasure is on the way back to Spain

Hercules loading treasure
(Photo: abc.es)

Treasure expected to arrive tomorrow at Torrejón base in Madrid

TAMPA, Florida USA Having lost all the legal appeals available to it, Odyssey Marine Exploration finally relinquished the treasure it found supposedly in the wreckage of the Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which was sunk by the British Navy in 1804 ('Witjhout prior declaration of war' according to one Spanish source). The treasure, mostly of gold and silver coins from the Americas and valued at well over €500million, was loaded onto two Spanish Air Force Hercules C-130 cargo planes this morning. Aside from the 594,000 coins, there are also metal fragments, cannon balls (some of which may well have been made in Jimena!), as well as ingots of copper and tin, as well as other artifacts - all in 'diverse state of repair', according to a representative of Spain's Ministry of Culture in Tampa to check the treasure.>>>

Spain wins US legal battle against Odyssey for shipwreck coins

As found in 2007 (People's Daily, China)

USA/SPAIN (El País/Martín Delfín) Odyssey Marine Exploration must give Spain back the 594,000 silver and gold coins it took in 2007 from a 19th century Spanish shipwreck because the property is protected, among other things, by a 1907 US treaty Washington signed with Madrid, a US appeals court said on Wednesday.In a 60-page ruling, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower federal court's decision in December 2009 that granted the treasure to the Spanish government. Odyssey has said that it will take the fight to the US Supreme Court to keep the Spanish coins it salvaged from the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes if the federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled against it. But legal analysts say that there is no clear guarantee that the justices would hear Odyssey's appeal because the Supreme Court only selects a very small percentage of the hundreds of petitions it receives on an annual basis.>>>