Spain Culture News
Odyssey now not sure about the identity of treasure ship found off Spanish coast
By h.b. - Apr 19, 2008 - 10:57 AM
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The Spanish Ministry for Culture has rejected the claims made by the Odyssey treasure salvage company, which has said it is impossible to firmly identify the boat which contained all the silver coins valued at 500 million dollars it recovered off the coast of Spain last year.
The Spanish Government has said it considers the treasure find to be ‘Spanish’, given that the coins are Spanish and the boat is thought to have been Spanish. They say they are taking a very close look at the all the information on the wreck which Odyssey has given them under court order.
Odyssey lawyers had previously said the boat was the ‘Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes y las Ánimas’, a Spanish galleon which went down off Faro in Portugal in 1804, but now the company says it is revising that information and it cannot be sure of the boat’s identity. They continue to use the codename ‘cisne negro – black swan’.
The latest statement from the Spanish Ministry for Culture says that it is satisfied that the judge in Tampa, Florica has denied the Odyssey request for confidentiality in the case, considering the application ‘dishonest’ and ‘lacking in foundation’.
Odyseey has been told to respond to a series of written questions about the find, but said it would only do so with such a confidentiality agreement in place.
The Spanish authorities think the 17 tons of gold and silver recovered, and taken to the United States by Odyssey, came from one of its Spanish galleons, and that they would be presenting their conclusions after analysing all the documents to the judge on May 9.