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From Paul Fraser Collectibles

The Titanic's rescue ship yields its own memorabilia including a Carpathian crew member's medal.

Just a few days ago we were reiterating how coveted Titanic collectibles are, and how excited bidders are likely to be at an upcoming auction which is offering a first class passenger's menu and a set of keys from the ship.
 
That is not to be missed, and of course it is nearly 100 years since the fateful night when HMS Titanic struck the iceberg, that being on 14 April 1912. It resulted in the death of 1,157 passengers.

But of course it isn't just items which were on board the Titanic itself which have value. In their upcoming Marine Sale, Bonhams is offering a series of collectibles relating to the RMS Carpathia - the ship which did a lot to prevent the disaster being even worse than it was.

Shortly after midnight on the night of 14/15 April 1912, the Carpathia's Harold Cottam picked up a radio distress call and woke his Captain Arthur Rostron.

The Carpathia arrived two hours after the Titanic sank and picked up many survivors. On arrival back in New York, the Officers and Crew of the Carpathia were awarded medals for their actions, including on which is offered in this sale, estimated at £2,000 - 3,000.

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From Fox News

Spain on Monday rejected Peru's claim to a huge multimillion-dollar undersea treasure recovered from the wreckage of a ship that had left from Lima's port more than 200 years ago.

Spain recovered the nearly 600,000 coins -- mostly silver but a few made of gold -- on Saturday after they were flown to Madrid from the United States.

That marked the culmination of Spain's five-year battle in U.S. courts with a Florida deep-sea exploration firm that in 2007 found the remains of a ship believed to be the Spanish frigate Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.

The Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration found the shipwreck off Portugal near the Strait of Gibraltar, taking the booty first to the British colony of Gibraltar at Spain's southern tip and then to Florida.

On Monday, Spain's education, culture and sports minister, Jose Ignacio Wert, told a packed news conference the final U.S. court ruling stated that "the legacy of the Mercedes belongs to Spain."

None of the treasure itself was displayed at the news conference, just a few photos on a TV screen. One showed a white plastic laundry-basket type container full of dull, crud-covered silver coins, large and thin.

After two centuries under water, parts of the trove of coins are stuck together in big chunks, sometimes in the very shape of the chests or sacks they were originally stored in, said Milagros Buendia, part of the specialized team that went to Florida to get the booty.

Wert said Spain will now set about classifying and restoring the 594,000 coins and other artifacts involved before it figures out how to display them for the public.

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By Jasper Copping - The Telegraph

The trading vessel was carrying an extremely valuable cargo of tin and hundreds of copper ingots from the Continent when it sank.

Experts say the "incredibly exciting" discovery provides new evidence about the extent and sophistication of Britain's links with Europe in the Bronze Age as well as the remarkable seafaring abilities of the people during the period.

Archaeologists have described the vessel, which is thought to date back to around 900BC, as being a "bulk carrier" of its age.

The copper and tin would have been used for making bronze – the primary product of the period which was used in the manufacture of not only weapons, but also tools, jewellery, ornaments and other items.

Archaeologists believe the copper – and possibly the tin – was being imported into Britain and originated in a number of different countries throughout Europe, rather than from a single source, demonstrating the existence of a complex network of trade routes across the Continent.

By Rossella Lorenzi - News Discovery

A fabulous sunken treasure recovered from a Spanish wreck in the Atlantic Ocean is flying back home from the United States, ending a five-year legal battle.

The treasure was put aboard two Spanish military C-130 planes. They took off Friday from a Florida Air Force base with 595,000 silver coins and other gold aboard. They are expected to land in Madrid's Torrejon Air Base after a 24-hour flight with two stops on the way -- New Jersey and the Azores.

"Today a journey that began 200 years ago is finally ending. We are recovering a historical legacy and a treasure. This is not money. This is historical heritage," Spain's ambassador to the United States, Jorge Dezcallar de Mazarredo, was reported as saying as the planes took off.

Consisting of 18th-century silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold and other artifacts, the treasure has been at the center of an acrimonious international legal battle ever since it was discovered in 2007 by underwater robots from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a Florida-based treasure-hunting company.

Valued at as much as $500 million -- the richest shipwreck haul in history -- the trove was handled by Odyssey and shipped straight to the United States.

The company, which, according to earnings statements, spent $2.6 million to retrieve, transport, store and conserve the precious cargo, has been unable to remove the silver and gold coins from warehouses at the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation in Sarasota, Fla.

Immediately after the treasure was recovered, Spain filed a claim arguing that the treasure originated from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.

The 36-gun Spanish frigate sank off the coast of Portugal in 1804 with 200 people aboard following a battle with four British navy ships.

According to an international maritime law known as the doctrine of sovereign immunity, active-duty naval vessels on a noncommercial mission remain the property of the countries that commissioned them. Spain thus claimed the exclusive property of the wreck and its cargo.

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By Ty Steele - KVAL

The Titanic captivated the world when it sank in 1912. And it’s continued to fascinate for generations.

Now, $200 million-worth of Titanic treasures are up for auction April 15th—100 years to the day after the ship set sail.

But as the centennial approaches, a Eugene archaeologist, said he strongly objects to the removal and auction of the artifacts from the ship.

“I don’t think the site has been treated properly,” said archaeologist Richard Pettigrew, at his home office in Eugene on Friday.

“It hasn’t been treated scientifically, or with the kind of respect that it should be treated with, and that’s why I’m objecting to it.”

Pettigrew said for-profit removal of Titanic artifacts was flawed from the get-o.

“Imagine a crime scene: when police arrive on the scene they section if off to prevent people from disturbing the evidence. Right ?” said Pettigrew, as he sat in his chair with a picture of the Titanic on his desk top computer behind him.

“Well, that’s what an archaeology site is.”

Pettigrew said scientists, archaeologists and historians should be in charge of the removal and preservation of artifacts from the Titanic site—not private companies.

"The Titanic is in fact a grave site where more than 1,500 people died," he said. RMS Titanic Inc., the company collecting the artifacts since 1987, did not respond to KVAL’s request for comment.

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By Mark Keenan - Independent

The high price of gold and silver bullion has led to a "treasure hunt" of sea-bed wrecks off the Irish coast.

A source at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht says heritage orders will be applied "wherever the Government sees fit", as improved technology increasingly allows treasure firms access to deeper and more hazardous locations in Irish national waters -- and privateers race to get to wrecks before Irish legislation prohibits them from doing so.

The world's largest marine commodity recovery operator, Omex, is already preparing to extract tens of millions worth of silver bullion from Irish waters within weeks.

Only once has an underwater heritage order been applied to a shipwreck -- in reaction to the investigation by a private exploration firm of the Lusitania in 1995. After a lengthy court battle with the owners, which ended in a compromise agreement in 2006, the heritage rights of the Irish State were eventually upheld.

The department source adds: "Treasure hunters are currently most interested in First World War wrecks, not only because they are most likely to have valuable cargoes on board, but because there is an increasingly small window in which to harvest their contents."

Under Irish law, wrecks which are 100 years old automatically become national monuments. This means treasure hunters seeking unfettered access in order to cash in on currently high precious metal values need to get in before the deadline.

Officials are concerned that treasure hunters might turn their attentions to unprotected wrecks like that of the Aud, the German vessel scuppered off Cork harbour in 1916 and laden with munitions for the Rising -- or to a series of German U-boats located off the Cork coast, which heritage officials believe have a high historic value to the State.

Odyssey Marine Exploration (Omex) -- a Nasdaq-quoted US exploration company -- told its shareholders that it is coming into Irish coastal waters this spring to harvest silver bullion from the wreck of the SS Mantola, a First World War wreck located within the 200 miles zone which OMEX says contains $18m (€13m) worth of silver bullion.

Omex, which features in the TV series Treasure Quest, is entangled in a court battle with the Spanish government after the company hoovered up 17 tons of silver and gold from an 1804 wreck, which the Spanish government is now claiming.

With its share price affected by its perceived lack of success in the so-called "black swan" case, Omex announced its discovery last year of two British bullion ships off the Irish coast, the SS Gairsoppa and the SS Mantola.

Omex is backed by the British government, which claims ownership and has made a deal to receive 20 per cent of the salvage.

A game of cat and mouse appears to have ensued between Irish state officials and Omex, which has turned up unexpectedly in Irish waters on a number of occasions and has been intercepted more than once by the Irish naval services eager to see what they are doing.

Last year Omex was discovered exploring a wreck 25 miles off the Great Blasket and its vessel was boarded.

The crew were cooperative and there is no suggestion unlawful activities were taking place.

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Santiago Mata - Intereconomia

España da hoy la bienvenida a un tesoro cuya propiedad le han reconocido justamente los tribunales norteamericanos, pero al que falsamente se considera procedente de los restos de la fragata Mercedes, hundida en 1804 por los británicos.

En realidad, según los expertos, el tesoro procede de un barco hundido posteriormente, y cuyos restos están a pocas millas de la costa española en el Mediterráneo.

El abogado maritimista Lorenzo Sarmiento, que se dedicó a observar los buques de Odyssey desde 1998, es el más tenaz defensor de la tesis de que el tesoro se extrajo del Mediterráneo, que, según él, se vería corroborada por las principales pruebas presentadas en el juicio celebrado en Florida.

En 2001 Odyssey bautizó como Cambridge un pecio con 18 cañones hallado a pocas millas de la costa mediterránea española, afirmando que era el buque británico Sussex.

En 2002, se le permitió extraer un cañón y una pieza de cerámica que, según el jefe del Museo Arqueológico de Cartagena, Iván Negueruela, no pertenecía al Sussex.

En 2003, confiando en obtener permisos, el jefe de Odyssey, Greg Stemm, declaraba en El Mundo que iba a sacar “el mayor tesoro del mundo” cerca de las costas españolas. Al final lo hizo, pero aseguró que procedía del Atlántico y dio al pecio el nombre de Black Swan (Cisne Negro).

Sin embargo, una foto presentada en 2007 ante el tribunal de Tampa muestra el mismo cañón, la misma ancla y hasta la misma lata de cerveza que habían publicado en 2001.

El juez de Florida Mark Pizzo aceptó la tesis de que el barco expoliado era la Mercedes porque no se presentó otra alternativa. Sin embargo, el motivo por el que entregó la carga a España era que todas las monedas eran españolas y, por tanto, no cabía duda de que se trataba de un buque español.

Esto se deducía de la declaración del arqueólogo de Odyssey encargado de conservar las monedas, Sean A. Kingsley, quien afirma que son “casi exclusivamente monedas acuñadas en colonias españolas de Sudamérica fechadas entre 1773 y 1804, con mayor concentración entre las décadas de 1790 y comienzos de la de 1800”, la mayoría de la ceca de Lima, “aunque la ceca de Potosí en Bolivia está igualmente bien representada”.

De haber sido el barco la Mercedes, las monedas debían ser casi exclusivamente acuñadas en 1803 en Lima, pues son las que fue a recoger, mientras que si las monedas son variadas, según Sarmiento, es probable que el pecio sea el de una fragata hundida en el Mediterráneo en fecha algo posterior a la Mercedes, como la Santa Ana, alias La Dido, o la Félix.

Mas...

By Brian Reyes - Gibraltar Chronicle

The US company that recovered the world’s most valuable and controversial underwater treasure said yesterday that it would seek to rebuild its relationship with the Spanish government.

Odyssey Marine Exploration believes that an ongoing project in partnership with Britain to excavate the wreck of HMS Victory could provide the template for future work with other countries, including Spain.

The development came as two Spanish military planes prepared to fly 17 tonnes of silver coins from the US to Spain this weekend, bringing to a close a convoluted saga over the so-called Black Swan treasure.

Odyssey recovered the coins in 2007 in international waters off Portugal and flew them to its Florida base from Gibraltar, sparking a bitter legal row with Spain in the process.

Odyssey lost at every stage in the US courts and this month, after five years of courtroom wrangling, a US judge ordered the company to hand over the $500m haul to Spain. 

On Friday, two Spanish air force Hercules transport planes were expected to fly from Florida under high security carrying the coins to Spain.

A decade ago the company enjoyed a good relationship with the Spanish government and even carried Spanish navy observers on board its flagship vessel, Odyssey Explorer, while it conducted underwater surveys off the Spanish coast.

But that relationship soured when the Junta de Andalucia took umbrage at the company’s activities, and worsened progressively after the PSOE won the general election in 2004 and the Junta’s heritage chief, Carmen Calvo, became culture minister in Madrid.

Critics of Odyssey argue that the company puts profit above archaeology and heritage protection. 

In the Mercedes case, Spain accused the company of plundering a national heritage site and dubbed Odyssey modern-day pirates.

But the company countered that its work adhered to strict archaeological protocols and standards. 

It said business and archaeology could coexist and be mutually beneficial, arguing that without the efforts of companies like Odyssey, deep sea underwater heritage would never be recovered and might otherwise be lost.

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