The Kingdom of Spain, once again in possible violation of international law, has seized a vessel operated by Tampa, Florida based Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.
According to a BBC article posted earlier today patrol boats of The Kingdom of Spain’s maritime police intercepted the Odyssey Explorer. OE is Odyssey’s 251 ft. (76m) primary research and recovery vessel. The vessel was “escorted” to the Spanish port of Algeciras.
A separate report on gibfocus.gi, a Gibraltar-centric blog reported that the vessel was in international waters when stopped by Spanish civil and naval vessels.
Odyssey Explorer is presumably being searched by Spanish authorities for evidence relating to the salvage of an estimated USD 500,000,000 value from a long lost sunken ship code named “Black Swan.”
The company announced the recovery in a press release dated May 18, 2007. According to the release the recovered treasure weighed 17 tons and consisted of, “… over 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and other artifacts.”
Shortly after the recovery announcement Spain filed lawsuits claiming ownership of the find. The legal battle and apparent harassment of Odyssey operations is ongoing.
Elmer Hurlstone