Nuestra Se�ora de las Mercedes

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.�

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