Odyssey Explorer is escorted into Algeciras Port as the Guardia Civil intercept the United States vessel in the Strait of Gibraltar
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By h.b. - Oct 16, 2007 - 1:06 PM
Bad weather meant that the Spanish authorities were unable to board the vessel, but finally it accepted the demand to head for Algeciras Port

Two Guardia Civil patrols seized the 2,200 ton ‘Odyssey Explorer’ treasure hunting boat when three miles to the SE off Europa Point in the Algeciras Bay at 11am this morning.

The swoop was made after the Ecologists Group, Verdemar, tipped off the authorities that the boat started to move just after 9,30am. It’s understood the boat was seized when in Spanish waters and has now been escorted into the port of Algeciras.

El País online has published the conversation –
‘We are a Spanish war boat – Do you know you are in Spanish waters?’
‘We are in International Waters’, (and then the Explorer gave her location)
‘Correct your position or we will be obliged to board you’.

The paper says that bad weather made boarding an impossibility, and after making the request three times, the Odyssey Explorer finally set course for Algeciras. Odyssey had invited several journalists onto the vessel today, including British, German and United States correspondents. Odyssey wanted to convince the journalists that any boarding of their vessel would be illegal.

A judicial order against the boat was issued by a court in La Linea as part of an investigation into the alleged pillaging of Spanish heritage. It’s is alleged to be one of the boats used to recover Spanish coinage from a site, the location of which is still to be confirmed by the company. The vessel carrying the coins has only been named with the code name ‘Cisne Negro – Black Swan’.

It’s expected that the boat will now be searched, although there have been reports in another Spanish newspaper, La Razón, that the Odyssey company has already removed items of value from the ship when docked in Gibraltar, and put a new crew on board.

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