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History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Solomon]

Captain Graham Moore commanded HMS Indefatigable and three more frigates when a Spanish flotilla was intercepted at Cape Saint Mary (Portugal), on 5th October 1804, the scene is recreated by this painting by Francis Sartorius

Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Moore (1764-1843) was a British sailor and a career officer in the Royal Navy. He was the younger brother of General Sir John Moore.

Moore was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of the doctor and author John Moore, and Jean Simson. He entered the Navy in 1777 at the age of 13, gaining promotion to Lieutenant in 1782. He was made Post-Captain in 1794, soon after the start of the Revolutionary War, commanding the 36 gun frigate HMS Melampus from 1800, before being appointed to HMS Indefatigable (44) in 1803.

Moore commanded the squadron of four Royal Navy frigates - Indefatigable (44), Medusa (32), Lively (38) and Amphion (32) - that captured a Spanish treasure fleet of four frigates - Medea (40), Clara (34), Fama (34) and Mercedes (36) - carrying bullion from the Caribbean back to Spain off Cadiz in October 1804.

Spain was at the time a neutral country, but was showing strong signs of declaring war in alliance with Napoleonic France.

Acting on Admiralty orders Moore required the Spaniards to change their course and sail for England. The senior Spanish officer - Rear-Admiral Don Jos� Bustamente - refused and opened fire on the British, leading to a short battle, during which the Mercedes blew up. The remainder surrendered and were escorted to Plymouth.

The value of the treasure was very large (it is often quoted as 3 to 4 million pounds in contemporary accounts, so probably over a thousand million in 2004 value) and if it had been treated as Prize of War, then Moore and his brother captains would have been set for life many times over. As it was the money (and ships) were declared to be "Droits of Admiralty" on the grounds that war had not been declared, and they got a relatively small ex-gratia payment.

Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes had 36 guns and was launched in 1786.

REVISTA PORTUGUESA DE Arqueologia .volume 1.n�mero 2.1998
O naufr�gio da fragata espanhola Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes, afundada pelos ingleses ao largo do Cabo de Sta. Maria, em 1804:
Sunk in 1804 by the British Navy off the coast of the Algarve, the frigate Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes has become a myth for treasure hunters in the second half of the 20th Century.

Although her cargo can hardly be considered a treasure, the history of her loss and the stories of the adventurers who tried to gather funds to find and recuperate her remains, make this case an interesting example for the discussion of the questions related to the archaeology of ships with treasure (real or imaginary), the activity of treasure hunters and the fragile condition of the underwater cultural heritage of the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone, outside the territorial waters.

O historiador Manuel Marliani transcreve as listas oficiais. O total da carga declarada era
o seguinte:
�Caudales para el gobierno
En plata . . . 1 307 634
Para Particulares y Soldadas
En oro . . . . . 1 269 669
En plata . . . . 2 158 850
MERCANCIAS
Cueros de lobo. . . . 26 925
Pipas de grasa de id.. . . 10
Sacas de lana de vicu�a . . 75
Cajones y sacas de cascarilla . 60
Barras de esta�o . . . 4 732
Gal�pagos de cobre. . . 1 735
Tablones de madera . . . 28
Cajones y zurrones de ratania . 32�


Capture & Destruction of Four Spanish frigates, Octr 5th 1804 | Cadiz 5th October 1804 Mercedes Amphion Medusa Indefatigable off Cape Santa Maria

SAMUEL SUTTON ESQ. - REAR-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE (1760-1832):
Captain Sutton was �very actively employed during the most important part of his Lordship�s command in the Mediterranean station, and had the good fortune to assist at the capture of a Spanish squadron laden with specie (money in the form of coins) on 5th October 1804�. (Marshall�s Naval Biography, p. 833). The Amphion on this occasion was opposed to la Mercedes, the Spanish Admiral�s second astern, which blew up with a tremendous explosion in less than ten minutes after the commencement of the action, and all on board except 40 men perished. Nelson was to again correspond with Captain Sutton about Lord St Vincent�s reluctance to make recommendations to the King regarding the award of medals for this action. (Edgar Vincent, 2003, Nelson � Love & Fame, p. 471).

Captain Sutton obviously had hopes of great rewards from the capture of the Spanish squadron�s booty, and wrote explicitly to Emma, Lady Hamilton, on the 20th October 1804:
�They are very valuable, having on board nearly one million in sterling in specie. I hope it will turn out a good thing for that great and good man Lord Nelson, as well as for myself� Bolton told me his Lordship meant to leave the fleet a few days afterwards in the Superb for England so that if this Spanish business does not prevent him from quitting the command his arrival may be shortly looked for� Two of the frigates present on this occasion belonged to Admiral Cornwallis, the other two to Lord Nelson, so that it prevents any dispute as to the right to share prize money.�

Emma quickly circulated the news; [her] family were soon like bees around a honey pot. In the event there was to be no prize money as such. War not having been declared, the ships and treasure were a droit of the Crown and so "A grant was made to the captors which, according to one account, amounted to a quarter of a million sterling." One-eighth of this shared by the commanders-in-chief the flag officers on both Nelson�s and Cornwallis� stations would have been �31,250.

Indefatigible:
It was in September, 1804 that the government had received information that the French had been given permission to march through Spain to man ships lying at Ferrol and a blockade was set up. On 22nd September, Captain Moore on the Indefatigable had received orders to search for and detain two Spanish frigates expected with treasure from South America. He arrived off Cadiz on 29th September and took the Lively under his orders on 2nd October. The Medusa brought the Amphion, the following day and all four frigates cruised between Cadiz and Gibraltar.

On 5th October, the Medusa sighted four Spanish frigates S.W. of Cape St Mary and the British frigates came along side as they formed a battle line. Captain Moore fired a shot ahead of the Spanish Admiral, when he failed to shorten sail. He sent lieutenant Ascott to the Spanish Admiral by boat to explain his orders but the Spanish Admiral was not impressed. When the Indefatigable fired a second shot, the Mercedes unfortunately fired into the Amphion.

The Spanish Admiral fired at the Indefatigable and a general fight began. The Mercedes blew up alongside of the Amphion and only 40 of her crew were rescued by the Amphion's boats. Within half an hour, the Spanish frigates Fama and Clara, had surrendered and the Spanish Admiral's 40 gun frigate, Medea, had fled.

Friday 5th October 1804 - 36.20 latitude. Cape St Marys M Light Airs Holms(?). Blank'd the Beads at 6.30. Cape St Marys. N by E by E. 4 or 5 leags. At 12 Squadron info___. Light Breezes, Clear at 5.30 the ____ and made the ____ for four Strange Sail bearing W by S. Made sail in case info with Squadron at St Marys. NE 8 or 9 leags. At 9 made No 13 __ Squadron. Discovered them to be four Spanish Frigates, they formed the line of Battle ahead. Captain Moore sent an officer to inform the Spanish Admiral that he had orders to desail them, requesting him to consider ____, not wishing to spill any Blood. Fired several shot across the Spanish Admiral's ship's Hawse(?) and made the signal for the boat which returned without Satisfactory answer. Fired shot across her Hawse which was returned with shot at 10. Made No 15 Squadron and the Action commenced. At 10.7 the Mercedes (Spanish Frigate) blew up. At 10.17 the Medea / Rear Admiral's Ship struck the Indefatigable. At 10(?) the Clara Struck. The Fama made off, the Medusa engaging her, made the Lively's Sigl___. Took possession of the Ships ____ exchanging prisoners. Amphion and ___ inc.

Intefatigable, Captains Log

The Captain's log is not that easy to decipher. One can imagine the conditions under which it was written.

The Spanish frigates had been carrying treasure: 1,307,634 dollars in silver with wool, bars of tin and pigs of copper belonging to the Spanish king; 1,859,216 dollars in silver 1,119,658 dollars in gold and 150,011 gold ingots belonging to merchants, and seal skins and oil belonging to the Marine company. 1,111,949 silver dollars, half the copper and quarter of the tin went down with the Mercedes. The prizes were taken into Gibraltar.

Solomon

[Sovereign]

As a Spanish warship, the Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes is the sovereign property of Spain.

I note that Stemm claimed that Odyssey salvaged the 17 tons of coins from a heap on the seabed - that there was no shipwreck. That could well fit the description of the Mercedes, which blew to smithereens.

It would also fit the movement of Odyssey Explorer, which for sure did not have time to make runs to Land's End and back, as well as operate the ROV.

Now, if this is true, Odyssey is going to have some explaining to do. What did they tell Gibraltar and US customs? Did it have an arrest for this? And what about Spain and her sovereign property?

It'll be interesting to see if the UK MoD continues to stand by. I think not. The UK supports the Spanish legal position on sovereignty fully, as does the US government.

[Administration]

Here are the facts as best I know them:

Movements of the ships:
March 3 - Ocean Alert sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on March 30

March 23 - Odyssey Explorer sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on April 4

April 3 - Ocean Alert sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on April 15

April 6 - Odyssey Explorer sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on April 9

April 17 - Odyssey Explorer sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on May 12

April 28 - Ocean Alert sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on April 30

These movements would fit a salvage operation in the Atlantic, off the south of Portugal, where the Mercedes was sunk.

April 9 - Arrest filed by Odyssey Marine, claiming that there is no visible evidence of a shipwreck - only artifacts and cargo in plain view and that the site is 1100 meters deep.

April 12 - Arrest Warrant is ordered on the vessel. The US Marshall's office conveys the Warrant.

April 13 - Odyssey Marine is ordered the US Court's custodian of the arrested vessel/cargo. The US Marshall is relieved of duty.

On Bloomberg TV, Stemm says of the 17 tons of coins: people throw things off ships for all kinds of reasons.

The basis for Odyssey's claim to the treasure is that the cargo was discarded.

[Sovereign]

The company had to make statements to a variety of government authorities regarding this salvage:

- The court in Florida, for the arrest.
- Gibraltar Customs and Excise as the coins were shipped in, then again as they were flown out.
- US Customs as the coins were flown in.
- The SEC, to whom it reports.

To each, it will have provided the provenance of the coins. From Stemm's comment to the court and to Bloomberg, we know that the company claims that the coins were discarded. We now know that the veracity of this claim is in question.

The veil on Odyssey Marine is being lifted and it is not a pretty sight.

[Solomon]

The position of the USA and Spain is that a sovereign vessel is always sovereign, international waters notwithstanding.

(For those who wonder why Spain did not always act to defend its position, I suggest they cross-reference the dates of the salvage operations with the international maritime conventions.)

If it is judged that the 17 tons of coins salvaged by Odyssey Marine are part of the cargo carried by the Mercedes, then it will belong to Spain.

Then, as Sovereign noted, the question arises as to what the company knew, or believed it knew, of the ship which carried the coins. What prompted its search of that location? What may be learned from the coins and the associated artefacts? Did Odyssey just strike it lucky?

Solomon

[Administration]

Claudio Bonifacio, a member of History Hunters, is probably the leading authority on the Mercedes. He has claimed to have identified the exact location of her:

(Translation by Google.)

Published: 18/Jun/2007, 17:33

Hello friends, in 1982 I participated in an expedition in the coast of the end of Santa Maria (Algarbe, Portugal) with an authorization of the Portuguese Navy (from this date always I have worked with authorizations legally sent by competent organisms) granted by the marine captainship of Light and we located, with side scan to sound Mercedes to one mile of the coast. That of which Odyssey found and took the load or part of the load of this frigate " military " (that is, Spanish property) is a Chinese story. by the way, in the summaries that the friend widowson �has not leido itself� also, �peculiarly� east subject, because is touched I had an appointment with the chief of staff of the Portuguese Navy and another one with the president of Honduras and the meritorious one said that it was to go to expoliar in Portugal and Honduras. When the judgment arrives (if it is that it arrives) I will call to declare to the chief of staff of the Portuguese Navy and the president of Honduras.


Published: 19/Jun/2007, 19:59

Rande, Mercedes mounted 34 iron tubes. I found the ship's log of the second squad leader, general Brigadier Diego de Alvear in the file of family in Llerena. Collating the nautical data of the newspaper, calculations of trigonometry (by the heights of mounts that estan in the end of Santa Maria) a drawing with several sequences of the combat done, apparently by the own Alvear, where it is seen clearly that they were near earth and the information of a master of fishing of drag Portimao, the sonar of lateral sweeping (side scan to sound) accused the tubes and other rest in a datum point by the master and who doubtlessly block with the nautical data that were corrected by Alvear in their newspaper. In 1996 two Portuguese divers returned to find the rest and I participated in a program of the Portuguese television (RTP). We went to the place and was �approximately� he himself that we found in 1982.
Lichi, at that time was the marine captainships that granted the authorizations, now is different.


Published: 19/Jun/2007, 23:39

After finding pecio the Navy it suspended the authorization awaiting hearing seeming of a commission that was at that time and the professionalism of our equipment (technical and scientific). This �was demonstrated and recognized� but never never we could begin the works of recovery. All the captains of the four Spanish boats that formed the Navy sent by Jose Bustamante declared that the combat happened near the coast (frigates FAMA, Clear, Mercedes and Medea). He is very atypical that pecio is to one mile, because I know other happened shipwrecks in the end Santa Maria and took place to few meters of depth and in few hours the boats were swallowed by the sand. Mercedes is to more than 40 meters. All the graphical material of of our work took a person to it for Italy, that was the technician - operator of side scan to sound and magnetometro. Mercedes transported more of million pesos (something as well as 27 tons) of currencies of gold and silver. In the file of Indians there are complete documents of the registry of load, divided by game.

Note: according to Claudio, the Mercedes is only a mile off the Portuguese coast, well within the terriorial limit.

[Solomon]

Bart is so obviously right, that the shroud of secrecy used by Odyssey has not always worked to its own advantage, as it has now admitted, belatedly, as regards the Volvo project.

Warships and military operations have generally a higher level of security than salvage vessels and theirs, yet still manage to explain things and sometimes even have television crews on board at times of war. If Odyssey Marine is concerned only to protect its investment, then there is much more it could have done in presenting itself.

Remember last year, when Doc advised that Odyssey Explorer could not operate its ROV in seas of certain conditions, and the company ignored this? Then what happened? The vessel was pulled off the Atlas project and sent to port for a "type inspection". This would take a week, we were told, though in view of the circumstances, we suspected that the vessel would be away much longer.

Sure enough, the weeks rolled by and the vessel did not reappear. I think it may have been months before she did, and then it was too late to return to Atlas, as the company said she would. Instead, she had to sail straight for Gib.

It looked as though the company was trying to hide mismanagement.

There there was the arrest off Land's End. A fragment of a bottle was presented to the court as evidence. Not very convincing to me. And where was that fragment, or the evidence to support the claim?

The company's claims for the Sussex are even more secretive. Its argument is based on public records, yet where are they? That letter, for example, by the 'French spy' that the company said triggered its salvage project:

> Why is the person who presented this letter to the company anonymous?
This makes me suspect that the document was stolen from the archives in France. This is not at all outrageous, as many such documents are stolen each year.

> On what basis would a consular official in Italy know what happened in Spain?
Without supporting evidence, it seems likely that his claim was mere hearsay.

> Has the letter, its contents and the background of the consul ever been studied by historians?
Why should we believe any of it?

My own perusal of the public record led me to a view diametrically opposed to that of the company: that there is no reliable evidence for the English crown paying the bribe to Savoy, or if it had, no reliable evidence to indicate that it was sent by sea, let alone on board the Sussex. I think Odyssey is on a wild goose chase and if I am wrong, then the company has the means to prove its case. Yet it does not.

It would have cost the company nothing to do so and instead, it chooses to hide and so engender mistrust.

This leads me to one conclusion: either the management is incompetent, or it has something darker to hide. Nobody should therefore be surprised that I distrust everything Odyssey Marine says and does.

Now we come to the 17 tons of coins and the mistrust starts to build again. Anyone really surprised at this?

Now, as for the salvage operations referred to above, if that is all they are, I am strongly opposed to them. I am probably opposed to anything done by Robert Marx and I am always opposed to salvage of historical shipwrecks.

As Bart says, I do not speak for Spain. I understand that the USA, Spain and the UK, along with many other nations, regard warships as sovereign property. This view has been upheld in courts of law.

Personally, if I was to be so utterly stupid as to break the law in this regard, I would not publicise it globally. Then again, if I were to employ Marx as director of archaeology, I would want to hide that, too.

Solomon

[Sovereign]

From The Sunday Times
June 24, 2007
Stop, that�s our treasure, Spain tells Britain

Daniel Foggo

IT WAS billed as the shipwreck find of the century with �250m of treasure recovered from a sunken 17th-century vessel lost off Land�s End.

But the landmark discovery is now at the centre of an international legal battle amid claims that the haul has come from another ship which sank 1,000 miles away.

At stake for the salvage company that recovered the treasure is 17 tons of silver coins. It claims ownership rights because it says the wreck is owned by no state and was found in international waters.

The treasure, said to be the most valuable such haul ever found, is reported to have come from the 366-year-old Merchant Royal, which sank near the Isles of Scilly. It was known by some as the �El Dorado of the Seas� for its long-lost cargo of riches.

However, the Spanish government is taking legal action against the salvage company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, because it suspects the treasure has actually come from the Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes, a 36-gun Spanish frigate that went down off the Portuguese coast en route from Montevideo to Cadiz. The Mercedes, which was sunk by British Navy ships in October 1804, was known to be carrying more than a million silver dollars.

The Spanish government�s suspicions have been aroused by the discovery that in April Odyssey filed a claim for salvage rights in the US courts over an unidentified 19th-century wreck said to be approximately 100 miles west of Gibraltar.

It is this ship which the Spanish government believes to be the Mercedes. If that is confirmed, the financial repercussions for Odyssey could be disastrous. As a warship, the Mercedes would have sovereign immunity under international maritime law. This means that both it and its cargo remain exclusively the property of Spain. By contrast, salvagers of nonstate owned ships can expect to be awarded up to 90% of their find.

Last week lawyers acting for the Spanish government put motions before a US court demanding that Odyssey reveal all the information in its possession about the identity and contents of the wreck.

The company has so far refused to reveal the name or location of the sunken treasure ship containing the silver coins, calling it only by a code-name of �Black Swan�.

However, it has done nothing to halt speculation that the Black Swan is the Merchant Royal, which is also believed to have had a large consignment of Spanish coins. Odyssey filed a claim in the US courts last September relating to a wreck it had found off Land�s End, believed to be the Merchant Royal, prompting assumptions that the 17th-century ship and the Black Swan are one and the same.

To mask the origin of the treasure, pictures released by Odyssey of the coins have the imprint on them digitally obscured to prevent identification, although the edges are expertly milled. Spanish coins began being produced in such a way only by the middle of the 18th century, 100 years after the Merchant Royal sank.

In a further complication for Odyssey, experts say although the Merchant Royal was not a sovereign ship, Spain would likely have a claim its treasure, too, because historical records suggest it originated there.

The tension over the treasure has been increased by separate court actions taken by the authorities in Spain resulting in arrest warrants being issued for Odyssey�s two ships, which are now docked at Gibraltar. It has been disclosed that the company secretly flew out the Black Swan treasure from Gibraltar to America.

Mike Williams, senior lecturer in underwater cultural heritage law at Wolverhampton University, said the situation was making the British authorities uncomfortable. �There is the potential here for a serious diplomatic incident,� he said.

�The Spanish don�t recognise British territorial water around Gibraltar yet if Odyssey�s ships are boarded in disputed water the British may be obliged to act. It is all very embarrassing to the British.�

In a further twist, Odyssey said this weekend that the presence of its ships in Gibraltar was unconnected with any salvage operation: they were there to participate in a competition being run by Volvo as a promotion for the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World�s End.

The ships had been primed to retrieve a nearby sunken �treasure chest� containing �25,000 of gold doubloons and the keys to a new Volvo for the winner of the competition.

Greg Stemm, Odyssey�s co-founder, insisted the secretive nature of his ships� earlier movements around the Spanish coast was due to the fact that the company was contractually bound by a nondisclosure agreement with Volvo rather than anything to do with the retrieval of the Black Swan treasure.

He said: �It has been a terrible misunderstanding that has inconvenienced a lot of people and cost a lot of money.�

Odyssey is now in a stand-off with the Spanish government as the company has said it will not disclose the identity of the Black Swan until it can revisit the site and extract further salvageable items. Its only two ships are, however, effectively blockaded at Gibraltar by the Spanish.

Ali Nesser, Odyssey�s director for international development, said: �We are trying to defuse the situation as much as possible.�

Additional reporting: Brian Reyes

[Sovereign]

I remember Jeff arguing that OMR's sececry was in its self-interest and the management was too smart to act against its own best interest. Now the opposite has been both proven (with the Volvo contract) and admitted to by the company.

[Solomon]

How did Odyssey Marine find the 17 tons and more of coins?

At the same time as Spain agreed to support salvage from the purported Sussex wreck, Odyssey instead sent its survey vessels out west of Gibraltar, into the Gulf of Cadiz and the Atlantic. With a few weeks, they had recovered tons of coins.

Let us assume that it did not send its survey vessels on a possible 'wild goose chase' and instead, had a clear idea of where it should look and for what.

The timeline actually disallows anything else: Odyssey went straight to the target.

This, despite the statements of Greg Stemm to Bloomberg television and others, that Odyssey had no idea of the ship which carried the coins, and that the coins were just sitting on the seabed in plain view.

Stemm asks us to believe that Odyssey delayed the "Sussex" recovey so it could go on a 'magical mystery tour' based purely on unfounded hope, then somehow just struck it lucky.

That scenario is irrational, at best.

The Sunday Times has reported evidence that Odyssey actually salvaged the Mercedes:
However, the Spanish government is taking legal action against the salvage company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, because it suspects the treasure has actually come from the Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes, a 36-gun Spanish frigate that went down off the Portuguese coast en route from Montevideo to Cadiz.

I therefore have to ask that if the suspicion of Spain has a basis, how could Odyssey have come to know the location of the Mercedes?

The possible answer lies in the often-murky relationships within the marine salvage business.

Comex
- Offshore industrie
- Salvage
- Hydrography
- Defence
- Scientific organisations
- Archaeological subsea research
- Films
- Tourism
- Marine Expertise
- Insurance
Video of marine operations

Comex and Subsea
SUB.Survey Programme Update:

In our last news letter I said that I would give you some more information on the key people in our programme and on the status of the ship preparation works and I can now do both. The Company�s appointed Head of Survey, is Nicolas Vincent who is supplied to the Company on a sub-contract basis from COMEX SA. The role of Head of Survey is to manage all aspects of the Company�s offshore survey operations. John Lethbridge (our survey vessel), and everything on it, is ultimately Nicolas� responsibility. Nicolas directing the installation of the ROV system Nicolas qualified as a senior survey engineer 15 years ago and has been responsible for running the COMEX survey fleet for the last 10 years. He has extensive experience of many types of wreck search and recovery projects, ranging from ancient shipwrecks to modern civilian and military aircraft. I have worked with him on several survey operations and know of his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things connected to the somewhat complex art of deep water underwater survey. He runs very good teams and immaculate ships. I should perhaps explain why Nicolas has been able to work for us whilst being a COMEX employee. Given the long association between some of us in SubSea and COMEX (COMEX is a shareholder in SubSea) it was perhaps unsurprising that they should be approached at a very early stage with a request for help on key personnel. In the very early stages I approached M

Odyssey and Comex
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc � 10KSB � For 2/28/03

ITEM 9.  DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, PROMOTERS AND CONTROL PERSONS;         
COMPLIANCE WITH SECTION 16(A) OF THE EXCHANGE ACT

Henri Germain Delauze has served as a member of the Company's Board of Directors since October 2001.  Mr. Delauze, one of the world's leading underwater technology pioneers, brings extensive technical, operational and management expertise to Odyssey's Board of Directors. Mr. Delauze was founder of one of the world's leading underwater technology companies, COMPAGNIE MARITIME D'EXPERTISES (COMEX), where he has served as President since November 1961. Mr. DeLauze pioneered deep saturation diving using synthetic breathing mixtures. Delauze was the first man to reach 335 m. depth during an experimental dive in May 1968, and his company holds world records for both deep sea and chamber saturation diving. In 1975, he created COMEX INDUSTRIES and COMEX PRO, two subsidiaries that design, manufacture and market sophisticated equipment for professional diving, work submarines and remote operated vehicles (ROV's). COMEX SERVICES, the Group's oil subsidiary, extended its activities to all the major offshore oil production areas around the world from 1966 onwards. Mr. Delauze is still the principal shareholder of COMEX SA, which maintains the following divisions: CYBERNETIX (advanced robotics, manned observation submarines and ROVs/AUVs for scientific deep-water archaeology and military purposes), COMEX PRO (manufactures hyperbaric centers for deep diving, large hospital centers and develops and manufactures ROVs, especially the ACHILLE and the 2,000 m. SUPER ACHILLE.)  During the year 2002, COMEX S.A., its subsidiaries and CYBERNETIX (group consolidation) employed over 500 people, including 200 engineers.

ODYSSEY MOVES FROM PACIFIC SEARCH TO MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS
October 4, 2000- Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: OMEX), has completed the planned September phase of search operations on the "Republic" project and is currently relocating key operations personnel and equipment to Europe to continue operations on the "Cambridge" Expedition.

More information about Odyssey and these shipwreck projects is available at shipwreck.net. More information about the research vessel Minibex is available at www.comex.fr/Pages1/Fram7.html

The Odyssey Marine operation to salvage the purported wreck of HMS Sussex was formerly code-named the "Cambridge" Project.

Subsea and the Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes
O naufr�gio da fragata espanhola Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes, afundada pelos ingleses ao largo do Cabo de Sta. Maria, em 1804 - FILIPE VIEIRA DE CASTRO

In 1986 two English companies - the SubSea Offshore, Ltd. and the Divetask Salvage, Ltd. - sought authorization to rescue this treasure. They would be both rejected ones.

Rejected, note.

...in the first months of 1998, during a visit by the archival researcher Patrick Liz� to the CNANS, we were informed of that one known by the name of John Kingsford had discovered the remaining portions of the frigate Mercedes about 100 km of the coast of the Algarve and the 1,200 depth m, spread throughout 2 km.

So we see that Subsea had applied to Portugal to salvage the Mercedes, were refused, and then continued anyway. But now, they claimed to have found the Mercedes - not in Purtuguese waters after all - but supposedly 100 km of the coast.

That may stretch your credulity a little. To me, it strecthes beyond breaking point.

Then, as we at History Hunters argue effectively that the Sussex did not carry the supposed treasure, and hackers are employed by supporters of Odyssey to attack this website in an ultimately failed effort to close us down:

Mark Gleave resigns from Subsea effective December 18, 2006.

Is it true that he then flew off to the USA and met Odyssey? If so, did the Mercedes arise as a topic of discussion?

Solomon

[Sovereign]

...in the first months of 1998, during a visit by the archival researcher Patrick Liz� to the CNANS, we were informed of that one known by the name of John Kingsford had discovered the remaining portions of the frigate Mercedes about 100 km of the coast of the Algarve and the 1,200 depth m, spread throughout 2 km.
- Filipe de Castro

Were informed... by... John Kingsford... the remaining portions of the frigate Mercedes about 100 km of the coast of the Algarve...

We therefore DO NOT KNOW that the Mercedes is in international waters. We know merely that Kingsford said it is.

Is that credible?

If it were true, then why did Kingsford apply for a permit to survey/recover the Mercedes in Portuguese territorial waters - as reported by Castro?

The application by Subsea to Portugal - the only official statement on its position - has to be taken as the best evidence for the location. This is, in fact, the only statement one can rely on.

Odyssey Marine and its supporters have been attacking - often personally and viciously - the character of Claudio Bonifacio. Their motive is obvious: he found the Mercedes in Portuguese waters. Anyone doubting this should consider that the main television channel of Portugal sent out two divers and filmed it.

[Solomon]

Yes, the only legal statement we have on the location of the Mercedes is that made in the permit application by Subsea (and others). It placed the Mercedes inside the territorial waters of Portugal.

So on what basis did Subsea then claim it was 100 km from land and at 1200 m depth?

Solomon

[Diving Doc]

The entire article is interesting but the last is most pertinent to our topic,

Don't you think?

I can't fathom where they came up with the 1600's for the period however,

Who wrote this?

Cheers,
Doc

gibfocus - 11th July 2007
(2007-07-11 22:10:00 )


Gibfocus also understands that the location of the treasure, is off the coastline of EL Faro, Portugal and not as first suggested off the coastline of Lands End in the UK. Whilst the treasure is believed to be from a Spanish colonial era vessel, the location of the shipwreck is believed to be within international waters off the Portuguese coastline. Official sources have this evening suggested that the vessel is a Spanish colonial vessel. Odyssey Marine Exploration has, however continued to keep the location and name of the vessel a secret. Experts have nevertheless suggested that the vessel could be la Mercedes, or Nuestra Senora de Las Mercedes which sank off the Portuguese coastline in the early 1600�s. Tracking positions of the Odyssey vessels indicating that the company did operate in the same area the vessel was believed to have sank.

[Solomon]

Odyssey Marine is now linked with the salvage of treasure from the Mercedes.

The truth begins to appear. This is a noteworthy piece that seems to offer strong confirmation of the suspicions of History Hunters.

- ...the location of the treasure, is off the coastline of EL Faro, Portugal

This is exactly where we have argued that she is, based on the permit to survey issued by Portugal to Claudio Bonifacio, the RTP documentary and the permit application by Subsea. We have other, reliable evidence for this.

It explains, as mentioned above, the attacks on Bonifacio, and quite possibly his arrest and the seizure of his research papers.

- ...the location of the shipwreck is believed to be within international waters off the Portuguese coastline

I am sure that it is. Equally certain is that the enormous explosion that destroyed the ship spread the wreckage over a wide area - say 2 km, part of which are in internmational waters - and that the coins sank straight to the seabed, in Portuguese waters.

As mentioned above, if wreckage was not in Portuguese waters, neither permits would have been needed from Portugal and the RTP documentary would not have been made inside Portuese waters.

- Experts have nevertheless suggested that the vessel could be la Mercedes, or Nuestra Senora de Las Mercedes which sank off the Portuguese coastline

Exactly.

- Tracking positions of the Odyssey vessels indicating that the company did operate in the same area the vessel was believed to have sank.

This supports the position of History Hunters and fully endorses our well-founded suspicions regarding Odyssey Marine. It also, of course, accuses that company of issuing false statements regarding where it found the coins. If this position is correct, then would not Odyssey Marine have exposed itself to a serious charge?

The 1600's reference is, I think, irrelevant, being either a typo or a simple error by a non-historian.

The sources for the statements are presented as authoritative.

Odyssey has not paid Gibraltar anything
gibfocus - 12th July 2007
(2007-07-12 13:40:00 )

Government officials have this week revealed that the US Salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration was not required to pay any duty on the treasure transferred to Florida via Gibraltar.

After weeks of controversy over the treasure, and suggestions that Gibraltar might have gained at least a nominal duty fee for the treasure, very senior Government officials have informed gibfocus that the company had no obligation to apply for a license since goods in transit do not require it.

Commenting on whether any duty fees were paid, the same sources revealed that it is not a requirement for any such fees to be paid, �Gibraltar has earned nothing out of it,� the same source told gibfocus.

The Government is said to have asked the company to apply for a license for exportation as a means of officially recording the cargo being transferred from the vessels onto the aircraft enroute to Tampa Bay in Florida. In this way ensuring that any possible questions over the origins of the cargo, and the contents of the containers could be officially responded to.

This looks to me that the government of Gibraltar decided to side-step the issue of the coins' origin, by the method of treating the coins as 'in transit'.

Is this related to the statement by Odyssey Marine, to create a tourist attraction in Gibraltar?
gibfocus - 20th May 2007:
The disclosure that the treasure was found and transported to the US came just days after reports suggesting that Odyssey Marine Exploration, the salvage company that made the discovery, is considering setting up a major museum and research and restoration base in Gibraltar.

The game is afoot, well and truly.

Solomon

[Administration]

How you title your posts is important.

Google treats each post as a webpage. You may not notice this, as you view the thread. However, click on the post title and it will open as a page of its own.

Of all the different ways people find content on the web, the most common, by far, is through search engines. Google is the most effective and most used by a very wide margin.

Google indexes all our content, virtually as it is posted.

To make the content you post easy for others to find, give your post a title that highlights the most important fact from within your post. Ideally, pick keywords that you want searchers to find.

If you do this, your post will appear within Google quickly and people searching for information of this subject are likely to find your post.

This simple system applies equally to other forums.

I mention this because looking at the Yahoo board on OMR, where a number of our members post, I see that their posts - often containing important data on the subject - are hidden by poor titles.

This brings me to the next point: who reads Yahoo?

Yahoo promoters have written there that nobody important reads those posts. No doubt they would like to believe this, for their posts are often complete garbage, designed to deter detractors. Perhaps also, they are ashamed of their own posts, as they are often childish, generally dishonest and in UK law at least, often actionable in law.

This claim, that nobody important reads them, is untrue.

It may be true that officers of the crown in the United Kingdon and Spain, as well as their lawyers, do not follow that board. However, the content is indexed by Google. Anyone searching Google for information on the subject will likely find references to posts in the Yahoo board. Its content cannot be deleted by Yahoo members and it will all enter the cache of both Google and the permanent web archive.

(Along with each post will be entered the poster's IP address and exact time of post, which enables the poster to be tracked to their real name and real-world address.)

Nobody should be under the misapprehension that their words exist in only some sort of juvenille playground, or that they are anonymous.

[Solomon]

Odyssey informed Spanish authorities - Spain respects Gibraltar waters

gibfocus - 12th July 2007
(2007-07-12 11:25:00 )

A new twist to the Odyssey Story

The "detention" of the Ocean Alert has taken everyone by surprise this morning after both the Gibraltar and British Officials indicated that whilst aware that the vessel was leaving and would be boarded they indicated that they had been made to believe that the vessels would not be arrested.

The comments were made by both when asked to comment on whether they were aware that the Odyssey Marine exploration vessels were to leave Gibraltar waters.

The whole departure was from the initial moments staged in full as a diplomatic agreement had been reached to allow the Spanish authorities to board the Ocean Alert, and search it. As reports of the vessel suggested that the Ocean Alert had been arrested gibfocus has confirmed that it has not been officially arrested, but it has been ordered into a Spanish port.

At around 7.30am this morning the first signs that a conclusion to the Odyssey saga was being reached could be seen with the Spanish naval vessel anchored off the Bay of Gibraltar, and then at around 8am sailing into the Straits.

In the meantime the Odssey Explorer had been berthed alongside the Ocean Alert and both vessels were preparing for the departure of the Alert.

As the Spanish naval vessel headed into the horizon two Guardia Civil patrol boats emerged from the Port of Algecrias.

At first they stopped just off the actual bay area into the Straits. At around 9.05am the Ocean Alert left its berthing area and started to sail slowly out of the port of Gibraltar. It was not until 9.11am that it left the port of Gibraltar. By this time the Guardia Civil patrols boats entered Gibraltar waters and awaited for the Alert to sail pass parallel to them out of the bay.

The slow moving Odyssey vessel weaved its way past the tankers in the bay, maintaining its distance from the Guardia Civil. By its side a Gibraltar Port Authority vessel led the way. As it passed Rosia at around 9.31 the port authority left the Ocean Alert to steam ahead alone. The lonely figure of the Alert, looking vulnerable as the Guardia civil followed, and in the foreground the Spanish naval vessel awaited saw much interest from onlookers, and media awaiting to see what happened.

As if calling for the Guardia to board the vessel the Alert slowed down just off Europa Point, reducing its speed even further. As had been suggested by Spanish media at 10am the Ocean Alert was boarded.

The boarding took place out of Gibraltar waters off Europa Point.

In a surprising turn of events, and contrary to the suggestions by local politicians and British officials, and even the US company officials the Guardia Civil is said to have ordered the skipper of the Ocean Alert to head to Algeciras. The order is said to have been followed by warnings that unless it did the vessel and everyone onboard would be arrested. The vessel has since sailed into the closest Spanish port in Algeciras escorted by Spanish patrols.

Gibfocus understands that the vessel has been detained and is being taken to Isla Verde where it is expected a full inspection will take place by the Spanish authorities.

Officials in Gibraltar, aware of the presence of local people onboard the Ocean Alert is monitoring the situation closely. The whole event having been followed from the first moment as the local authorities ensured that the boarding took place outside Gibraltar waters.

Odyssey hopes to be allowed to sail away and resolve problems

British FCO will make representations to Spain on international water boarding incident
gibfocus - 12th July 2007
( 2007-07-12 14:10:00)

British Foreign and Commonwealth office officials have criticised the decision by Spain to board the Ocean Alert in international waters this morning. Although British officials were aware that the vessel would be boarded once out of Gibraltar waters, British officials have said that they will make representations to Spain over the boarding.

Whilst the issue would now be between the Panamanian maritime authorities, whose flag the Ocean Alert flies and Spain British officials have condemned Spain's decision to board the vessel 3.5 miles off Europa Point, at a predetermined location as confirmed by gibfocus.

[satdiver]

Spanish article mentions the Alert as "one of three" boats that it wants to search...

Still cant find the name of the third...is this the Lespoir?

GIBRALTAR (Reuters) - the Spanish police approached to the force Thursday a boat operated by the company cazatesoros American Odyssey after the ship left Gibraltar, said witnesses who were in the boat. Publicity Spain says that the company Odyssey Marine Exploration has taken control of a treasure that Madrid thinks that it could be extracted of Spanish waters or a sunk Spanish galleon in the Atlantic during the colonial time. The Ocean Alert left from Gibraltar Thursday in the morning and was followed by a patrol one of the Civil Guard during five kilometers before it left waters Gibraltarian and outside boarded by four agents. Ocean Alert had attack a Spanish lawyer and the captain of the boat acceded to be escorted until the port of Algeciras. The Ocean Alert is one of the three boats that belong to Odyssey which they are object of an order of registry emitted by a Spanish court the last month. The Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company cazatesoros with base in Florida, has announced that had recovered valued gold currencies and silver in about 500 million dollars of a colonial boat whose name in code is Black Swan in a place nonkept awake of the Atlantic Ocean.

The picture is the Spanish Police....

[Solomon]

Spanish article mentions the Alert as "one of three" boats that it wants to search...

Still cant find the name of the third...is this the Lespoir?

No, as I mentioned on Skype a while back, that was the Dutch vessel leased last year by Odyssey and returned at the end of the season. It is now out east.

Monday, June 4, 2007 - Ahoy from the Dutch flagged ship M/V L'Espoir.


Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - In just a few moments the M/V L'Espoir will arrive alongside a pier in the Kupang harbor.

12 June 2007 - Can connect to the internet once in a while here in Indonesia from the Dutch M/V L'Espoir.

Solomon

[satdiver]

understood, just wondering what is the name of the third vessel they are referring to.....

was this owned or leased by OME

[Solomon]

In a statement issued this afternoon, after the British Government issued a similar comment Number Six Convent Place said today, "The arrest by Spain of a Panamanian ship in international waters is a matter for the Panamanian Government. However the Gibraltar Government is concerned that international shipping using Gibraltar port should be interfered with in this way in international waters.

"The Gibraltar Government understands that under international law a vessel can only be arrested in international waters with the agreement of the vessel's flag state. Assuming that the Panamanian authorities have not given their consent to the arrest of the Ocean Alert, her arrest by Spanish Authorities would appear to be an illegal act."

Does the British government really understand what has been happening here? Arrested? This was not my understanding of what happened this morning, which was that the Alert was invited, probably along the lines of "you are invited to help with our enquiries".

Now they are in Spain, of course, it is a different matter. A dios, chums. I wonder if the Alert has the same bunch of kids on board as when they sailed towards Portugal?

If I were to follow the same blithering nonsense of Morris, posting in Yahoo, I could now call the bunch of them criminals. But I am neither that previous, not that stoopid.

I can wait.

Solomon

PS
Are we sure that the above vessel isn't a trawler?

[Diving Doc]

Spain seizes ship in treasure row
Spanish civil guard officers talk to Odyssey official
Odyssey says the ship was seized in international waters
The Spanish Civil Guard has intercepted a boat operated by a US company amid a row over treasure from a shipwreck.

The guard had been ordered by a Spanish judge to seize the vessel as soon as it left the British colony of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar officials and Odyssey Marine Exploration, which owns the ship, said Spain had boarded the ship illegally as it was in international waters.

In May, Odyssey said it had found $500m (�253m) in coins from a 17th Century wreck somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Madrid suspects the sunken galleon may either have been Spanish or have gone down in Spanish waters.

The salvaged booty, which included half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold objects, has already been flown back to the US.

'Threat of force'

After leaving Gibraltar, the Ocean Alert was picked up at about 0700 GMT on Thursday off Europa Point and sent to the Spanish port of Algeciras to be searched, the Civil Guard said.

   
At this point, Odyssey is assuming that the action on the part of the Guardia Civil is a miscommunication between Spanish authorities
Odyssey Marine Exploration

The guard was investigating a possible "offense against Spanish historic heritage", it said in a statement.

Odyssey said the boarding was illegal and said the Civil Guard threatened to use force if Ocean Alert's captain did not follow orders. It said Spain had earlier promised the ship would be searched at sea.

"At this point, Odyssey is assuming that the action on the part of the Guardia Civil is a miscommunication between Spanish authorities," the Florida-based company said in a statement.

A spokesman for the governor of Gibraltar said the ship was in international waters at the time it was seized.

The Ocean Alert
Spain's Civil Guard is searching the Panama-registered ship
A lawyer for Odyssey, Allen von Spiegelfeld, told Reuters news agency that Spain had not sought permission to board Ocean Alert from officials in Panama, where it is registered.

"The owners of the vessel have contacted the Panamanian maritime authorities protesting the seizure on international waters," Mr von Spiegelfeld said.

{Now who is this new player?}

Spain has launched legal action over the treasure and the wreck.

Some experts believe the wreck to be the Merchant Royal, an English ship carrying stolen Spanish treasure which sank in 1641.

US coin expert Dr Lane Brunner has said there is evidence the shipwreck was found off England's Cornish coast.

{And we all would like to know who this really is, wouldn't we?}

Odyssey has kept the location of its find secret, citing security and legal reasons.

[Bart]

" US coin expert Dr Lane Brunner has said there is evidence the shipwreck was found off England's Cornish coast. "

What evidence??? No evidence has been made public, the location of the wreck location is a secret.

This is what he calls logic;

"Dr Brunner, from the American Numismatic Association, told Five Live there were clues about the location in a statement given to a US federal court in the autumn. "They told a judge at that point that they had found the wreck of a seventeenth-century merchant ship in the Atlantic Ocean, just outside the English Channel - about 40 miles off Lands' End. So all we can do is add two and two together. It would seem logical given the timing and everything that could be the site."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6671975.stm

"a two day ANAGrading Seminar took place with 16 participating. Dr. Lane Brunner of the ANA administered the course. "

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:HfT3SZTfWe4J:www.gsna.org/NJNJ_pdf/GSNA_journal_Summer_06.pdf+Dr+Lane+Brunner&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us

Again the question: Why haul them from England to Gibralter if everything is on the 'up and up'?

Bart

[Diving Doc]

Bart,

This statement from the 19th of May has only to do with Clues. Does it say anywhere that he has examined these coins from the Land's End Wreck? No. Just guesses and a smoke screen to throw off the Public from the treasure recovery, most probably the Mercedes, as we are finding out now. One more attempt to confuse the issue.

Doc

[Diving Doc]

"Odyssey recently provided a

109-page legal affidavit

to authorities in the Spanish Federal government, the Junta de Andalucia, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and the United States detailing Odyssey's activities leading up to, and after, the announcement of the "Black Swan" discovery.

This document (which covered nine years of communications and meetings...........................................................

between Odyssey, the Junta of Andalucia and the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain) was provided in order to address questions posed by the Spanish regarding Odyssey's activities and to reassure all concerned governments and officials that Odyssey has always acted legally and with full transparency in relation to the "Black Swan" project and in all other shipwreck exploration activities."

Sounds like lots of empty pages of paper.

Doc

[Solomon]

Here are the coins which various parties are now saying most likely came from the Mercedes.

(Thanks to Satdiver for the original image.)

Solomon

[Jim]

WOW! Looks like a bucket of roofing discs on this monitor. Thanks for sharing.

[bahamawrecker]

Looks like coins dated around 1800
Bahamawrecker

[Sovereign]

Yep, milled.

Does this story present Odyssey Marine as an innocent party?

The Civil Guard �hunts� boat of Odyssey

- at the moment has been nothing on board of the boat... is related to the treasure removed from the sea, like the used instruments of extraction

- one of the surprises of the agents has been to be with a renewed crew - in best of the cases, the some sailor had been a contracted month, formed by citizens of diverse nationalities - Czech, Polish or Russian, among others. Some only guessed right to identifyr themselves in English like sailors: � Seaman, seaman�. No was on board when the 500,000 currencies in dispute were extracted.

So the company has stripped all the equipment and changed the crew. That is hiding evidence. Innocent? 

[Diving Doc]

Members,

As I stated before at the time this picture first became available, they appear to be milled coins which means, if coming from the New World, minted 1731 or later. Of course as I remarked then, this eliminated the Land's End Wreck 1641, and the HMS Sussex 1696 from the race. As we have developed this investigation we have noted the close involvement of principals directly involved in a previous "Mercedes" recovery project with OMR. The rest should prove interesting as Spain seems very determined to punish OMR for the HMS Sussex project as well as recovering a sovereign treasure illegally removed and exported.

Cheers,
Doc

[Jim]

Odyssey's Ocean Alert Vessel being escorted by Spanish warships into Algeciras port after being arrested on leaving Gibraltar waters. 12 July 2007

[satdiver]

here is todays article from the Chronicle...

GUARDIA CIVIL SEARCH OF OCEAN ALERT CONTINUES
� Britain and Spain exchange diplomatic communications
By Brian Reyes
Guardia Civil officers continued to inspect the treasure hunting vessel Ocean Alert in the port of Algeciras yesterday, as controversy surrounding the ship generated further political reaction. They boarded at 11.30am and spent most of the day searching through the vessel.


Identity documents have been returned to the crew and no one has been arrested, though computers and other personal items remain in the possession of the Spanish authorities.
The Ocean Alert is detained in Algeciras as part of a criminal investigation into possible crimes against Spanish heritage laws.
The vessel was stopped by Spain on Thursday 3.5 miles off Gibraltar and was taken to Algeciras under threat of arrest.
Spain says US company Odyssey Marine Exploration has treasure that Madrid believes could have been retrieved from Spanish waters or from a Spanish galleon which sank in the Atlantic during the colonial period.
The Ocean Alert was stopped under a court order issued by a judge in La Linea who is investigating a possible breach of the law. The company denies the allegations.
Beyond the rights and wrongs of the legal wrangle surrounding the ship, it is the location in which it was stopped that has generated much of the reaction from governments in the UK, Spain and Gibraltar.
Spain said the ship was intercepted in Spanish territorial waters and that the Guardia Civil was acting in accordance with Spanish law. Odyssey maintains the Ocean Alert was in international waters and was boarded illegally.
On Thursday, in a note verbale to the Spanish Government, the UK backed the company�s position and said waters beyond 3 miles off Gibraltar were international waters.
Yesterday Madrid replied in similar fashion. In a note verbale sent to the British embassy in Madrid, the Spanish Government firmly reiterated its longstanding position on Gibraltar�s waters.
Spain believes that under the Treaty of Utrecht Gibraltar has no territorial waters beyond the port limits, though in practice it respects the three miles of sea claimed by the UK around the Rock.
Despite the intervention at sea on Thursday, all sides appear keen to defuse the political row and prevent it from escalating.
A Spanish official at the Foreign Affairs Ministry was quoted anonymously as saying the situation �has not escalated to the level of international conflict�, adding that the Ocean Alert was stopped on the basis of a court order.
The British Government was considering its response to the Spanish position.
Yesterday Odyssey was awaiting the outcome of the inspection, which it has been told could take up to three days.
�It is anticipated that the vessel will be permitted to leave at the conclusion of the inspection,� the company said in a statement late Thursday night.
Company executives are frustrated with the way the situation has unfolded. Prior to sailing from Gibraltar, they believed an agreement had been reached with the Spanish judicial authorities that the ship would only be boarded at sea, and not taken into port.
�At this point, Odyssey is assuming that the action on the part of the Guardia Civil is a miscommunication between Spanish authorities,� the company said.
Last May Odyssey said it legally recovered gold and silver coins worth an estimated $500 million from a colonial-era wreck code-named Black Swan at a location in the Atlantic Ocean which it refuses to disclose.
That treasure haul lies at the root of the present row with Spain.
The company has so far refused to identify the location or name of the wreck for security and legal reasons.
On July 23 it is due to provide additional information as requested by Spain to the US Federal Court judge handling claims over the treasure haul.
This additional information will contain archaeological reports and details of three deep-ocean sites located outside the territorial waters of any country on which Odyssey properly filed Warrants of Arrest in the U.S. Federal Court sitting in admiralty jurisdiction, the company said.
Odyssey has also provided a 109-page affidavit to various Spanish ministries and agencies detailing relations between the company and Spain going back nearly a decade.
The affidavit provides some details on the Black Swan, though it does not identify the name of the wreck or its location.
�We always attempt to work with appropriate governments on shipwreck projects in which they may have an interest and look forward to addressing any issues of claims or legal jurisdiction related to the �Black Swan� in the proper venue, which is US Federal Court,� said Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm in the statement.
CRUZ SAYS ACTION FALLS SHORT OF �PIRACY�
Meanwhile the Progressive Democratic Party has issued a statement on the incident. Party spokesman Nick Cruz said: �The behaviour of the Guardia Civil in boarding the Ocean Alert and arresting her presumably on instructions from a Spanish Court falls just short of piracy and in all the circumstances an affront on the rights of all seafarers going about their lawful business.�
�The fact that the vessel was in international waters 3.5 miles off Europa Point seems to have been ignored by Spanish authorities and case should be cause for concern not just to Gibraltar but also to the International community all of which use the Straits of Gibraltar for shipping and related international trade.�
�International law prevents arrests of a vessel in international waters unless its flag state in this case Panama grants permission. There is nothing to suggest that permission has been sought or granted and so one can only assume that the Spanish Authorities wrongly perceive waters off Gibraltar and outside the territorial limits of Gibraltar waters to be Spanish. The reported communications between the Captain of the Ocean Alert and the Guardia Civil suggest exactly that.�
�The International Community and specifically the Panamanian (flag state) and British and Moroccan Governments (whose waters neighbour the international waters in question) should express their view in no uncertain terms that the Spanish action is wrong in law and therefore the detention of the vessel�s crew for several hours is unlawful as is the continued detention of the vessel. The Spanish Government should explain the situation make an immediate unreserved apology to all concerned and release the vessel.�