Spain Sues Odyssey Marine Exploration
The Kingdom of Spain filed a lawsuit against Tampa-based, deep-ocean shipwreck explorer, Odyssey Marine Exploration on May 29. The suit filed claims against three wrecks that Odyssey Marine has recently found and recovered material from: an Italian-registered passenger boat found last year in the Mediterranean, an unidentified ship located west of Gibraltar in March, and the much-publicized 17th-century ship (codenamed “Black Swan” by Odyssey Marine) found earlier this month, which yielded 500,000 silver coins ($500 million) that is being hailed as the largest find of its kind.
A press release issued on May 31 by Odyssey Marine claims that Spain “has NOT filed a lawsuit against Odyssey” but only a “Verified Claim stating that the Spanish Government does not intend to give up property rights to any Spanish property which might be on sites on which Odyssey filed Admiralty arrests during the past year, including two unidentified colonial sites in the Atlantic Ocean and a 20th century steamship.”
The press release goes on to state that “[n]one of the arrested sites have been confirmed as the ‘Black Swan’ and Odyssey has informed the Spanish Government through official diplomatic channels that when - and if - the identity of the ‘Black Swan’ is confirmed, Odyssey will notify any entities that might have an interest - including the Spanish Government - of the specific information about the shipwreck.” Odyssey Marine’s press release also declares that the recovery of the Black Swan, the location of which is being kept secret by Odyssey for “security reasons,” was “beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country.”
Nevertheless, Spain is being represented by maritime lawyer James Goold, of Covington & Burlington, in Washington, DC. Goold represented Spain in a similar case back in 2000, regarding items retrieved from the Juno and La Galga without the country’s permission. Spain won that case and, in this current case, has 20 days, under U.S. District Court rules, to issue specific responses to each of the three Odyssey Marine’s shipwreck claims.