Mystery surrounds origin of salvaged treasure worh 500 million

TAMPA: The origin of the fabulous treasure valued at $500 million found by the firm Odyssey Marine Exploration in waters near Spain continues to be a mystery, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.

The day-to-day work of a score of people who are meticulously cleaning the thousands of silver coins and other assorted objects that Odyssey brought up from the depths of the Atlantic still has not led to identification of the wreck.

Meanwhile, in the Florida courts a legal battle is playing out surrounding the booty, which Spain is stridently claiming.

"We want to learn the name of the ship from which we removed the treasure, but we have not found any definite proof (of it). And perhaps we'll never be able to establish the identity of the vessel," said Greg Stemm, the co-founder and co-president of the treasure-hunting firm, whose shares have been publicly traded for 10 years.

In an interview at Odyssey's headquarters in Tampa, the 50-year-old Stemm said he was convinced that international law is on the firm's side in the legal conflict with Spain.

He said what he doesn't understand is the attitude of the Spanish authorities, to whom in November 2006 Odyssey offered direct participation in the recovery of the treasure.

"For 10 years, we've suggested that the Spanish government establish a legal regime for the handling of archaeological treasures and finally it's going to be done," said Stemm, who does not hide the fact that he feels hurt at what he calls the false accusations of Spanish politicians.

"Spain needs to have that (legal) regime to handle its archaeological treasures and they need to establish all the legal aspects, not only in Spanish territorial waters but also in international (waters), wherever there might be a sunken Spanish ship," he said.

Stemm's calm is based on the fact that the US district court in Tampa with maritime jurisdiction granted to Odyssey the status of discoverer and trustee for all the items recovered from the disputed wreck.

Admiralty law establishes that 90 percent of the value of whatever is recovered from such a treasure ship belongs to the firm or people who undertook the recovery.

Spain's legal position is based on the claim that either the booty was removed from Spanish territorial waters or it constitutes a Spanish-flagged archaeological resource, in both of which cases the treasure would belong to the government in Madrid.

"We have reiterated that the treasure is in international waters and we've explained that in all the information supplied to the court. If we had found a site in Spanish territorial waters, we wouldn't have touched it," Stemm said.

He said that the firm provided to US District Judge Steven D. Merryday all the details on the wreck site, adding that the Spanish government can have access to that information if and when it signs a confidentiality agreement to prevent the precise location of the site from becoming publicly known.

"It would be irresponsible to release any data that would allow the archaeological site to be pinpointed. There is no way of protecting it in international waters and anybody with just a minimum of resources could be tempted to try and recover more objects of value," said Stemm.

He insisted that his firm would do everything possible to identify the sunken ship and that the vessel might be - among other possible identities - the Santa Maria de las Mercedes, a Spanish frigate that sank in 1804 during an attack by a British naval squadron.

The objects that are recovered from the wreck site and later sold or auctioned have more value if their specific origin can be determined, Stemm said.

"In Spain, perhaps they don't realize that we're a firm that trades on the stock market and, as such, we're obligated to act completely legally and provide true information. If we don't do that, we run the risk of going to jail," Stemm said.