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From Trading Markets

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. presented in writing in a U.S. federal court in Florida its objections to a judge's recommendation that it turn over to Spain a treasure valued at more than $500 million.  

"We know that admiralty law is complex, and the facts of this case are unique.

I believe that the recommendation missed some key issues, and we have underscored those in our objection," Odyssey's vice president and general counsel, Melinda MacConnel, said in a statement.

"We are confident that the facts and applicable law are in our favor," she said.

In the filing, Odyssey impugns the June 3 report from U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo, who said Spain had demonstrated that the source of the treasure salvaged by Odyssey from Atlantic waters in May 2007 was the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a Spanish navy frigate destroyed in battle in 1804.

Pizzo concluded the wreck and its contents were subject to the principle of sovereign immunity and that the loot should be handed over to Madrid.

But the Tampa-based company says Pizzo used the wrong legal standard in his analysis of the case and that "no coherent vessel" can be found at the site where the gold and silver coins were recovered.

Odyssey also points to what it calls "clear and convincing evidence of the commercial nature of the Mercedes' mission at the time of her demise," a factor the firm "believes legally nullifies the claim to sovereign immunity of that vessel."

"The majority of the coins aboard the Mercedes were merchant-owned, commercial cargo being shipped as freight for a fee and were never owned by Spain," Odyssey maintains.

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By Dave McKinley - WGRZ.com

There are many shipwrecks beneath the waters of Lake Erie.

But a salvage outfit called Northeast Research LLC believes one sitting in 176 feet of water 20 miles off the coast of Dunkirk to be of significant historical interest.

"If it's the ship we believe it is, then it was built in 1797," said Northeast Research videographer Pat Clyne who has made several dives on what he now believes is the Caledonia, a warship once used by Admiral Perry in the war of 1812, and later refitted as a commercial schooner called the General Wayne.

"Even if it isn't, it's still a turn of the century built ship in absolutely perfect shape," Clyne told 2 On Your Side.

As they continue to pull up artifacts and do research to positively identify the vessel, they are also working on a plan to raise it and display it in a large aquarium on Buffalo's waterfront.

It would be a monumental task both technically and financially. "Absolutely. It's never been done before in North America," Clyne said.

While he says private funds will cover the millions needed to salvage the ship, he's been meeting with representatives of the federal, state and local governments to see if they're interested using grant money from the inner harbor project to bring it here and create what he insists will be an attraction to rival other national treasures like the Alamo and the Liberty Bell.

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By Christiane Oelrich - M & C

In the lore surrounding hidden treasures, the gods often see fit to subject the treasure hunter to a long quest before he finds the objects of his desire.

Treasure hunter Klaus Keppler knows that only too well. For years, the owner of a salvage company has been looking for the wrecks of ships that had been carrying gold, silver or china. Now, after a long dry spell, he got lucky. Twice.

Keppler - who has recovered a 10th-century wreck and the Forbes, a British vessel that ran aground in 1806, off Indonesia - contentedly surveys his treasures in a Jakarta port storehouse, holding up a huge lump of silver coins.

'Hurry up, this thing is incredibly heavy,' the 70-year-old German urges a photographer but with a big smile on his face.

The divers of his salvage ship, the Maruta Jaya, have recovered many kilograms of silver coins from the Forbes as well as cannon, gold jewellery, crystal, silverware and 400 bottles of wine.

'Those gentlemen on board knew how to live well,' he says.

Especially the many different coins will sell well, he believes, spinning a large one between his fingers: 'One coin can be worth between 50 dollars and several thousand.'

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By Jackie Smith - Erie Times News

It's take two for one Mercyhurst College archaeologist, whose underwater excavation last summer off Florida's Gulf Coast will continue today.

James Adovasio, Ph.D., provost and director of Mercyhurst's Archaeological Institute, will travel 105 to 130 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico to search for ancient tools and artifacts used by a population he believes existed more than 13,500 years ago along what are now submerged beaches.

Through Aug. 7, Adovasio and a team of about 10 people will return to the submerged ancient stream and river channels they identified in 2008, west of what today is St. Petersburg, Fla.

"We know the stuff's out there, but no one's ever tried to systematically look for it," he said.

The focus is on locations up to 135 feet underwater. Adovasio said it's a region previously untouched by other excavations.

While there, they'll search for ancient camps, submerged tree-stump forests, fossilized animal remains and any other indications of early humans having been there.

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From Reuters

A team of archaeologists using sonar technology to scan the seabed have discovered a "graveyard" of five pristine ancient Roman shipwrecks off the small Italian island of Ventotene.

The trading vessels, dating from the first century BC to the fifth century AD, lie more than 100 meters underwater and are amongst the deepest wrecks discovered in the Mediterranean in recent years, the researchers said on Thursday.

Part of an archipelago situated halfway between Rome and Naples on Italy's west coast, Ventotene historically served as a place of shelter during rough weather in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

"The ships appear to have been heading for safe anchorage, but they never made it," said Timmy Gambin, head of archaeology for the Aurora Trust. "So in a relatively small area we have five wrecks...a graveyard of ships."

The vessels were transporting wine from Italy, prized fish sauce from Spain and north Africa, and a mysterious cargo of metal ingots from Italy, possibly to be used in the construction of statues or weaponry.


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By Tom Leonard - Telegraph

HMS Diana was only a six-gun armed schooner but her loss in the first naval engagement of the war provided the colonists with one of their first tastes of victory.

In May 1775, the ship, usually used to catch smugglers, took part in the battle of Chelsea Creek in Massachusetts.

For two days, British troops and colonists fought along the waterway which separates the Massachusetts town of Chelsea from Boston. The redcoats were attempting to reach farms further inland to obtain food while their opponents were trying to block their way.

The Diana, under the command of Lt Thomas Graves – who later became an admiral and served under Lord Nelson – was sent up river to support the British soldiers. She was initially successful but, as the tide ebbed, Graves appealed for help in towing the schooner to deeper water.

Despite a desperate effort to pull it with barges, the ship was surrounded by some two thousand colonist troops and, as the tide ebbed, she ran aground.

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By Vicente L. Panetta - The Associated Press

Divers battling high winds and waves have recovered nearly a ton of unrefined silver from a ship that recently sank off the Argentine coast, police said Wednesday, easing suspicions about insurance claims on the vessel.

About 20 divers aided by a robot submarine recovered the metal from the wreck of the Polar Mist on Tuesday, said a police official in the city of Rio Gallegos.

They were waiting for seas to calm before resuming the search for more of the estimated 9.5 tons of ore believed to be aboard, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The refitted fishing trawler sank near the mouth of the Straits of Magellan on Jan. 18, two days after it was abandoned by its crew in high seas.

The owners of its cargo say nearly $22 million in unrefined gold and silver went down with it, but Argentine news media and maritime experts had questioned whether precious metals were aboard at all.

By Johnni Wongb - The Star Online

The deep waters off the coasts of Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak still hold the wrecks of many ships carrying Chinese porcelain dating from the Yuan, Ming and Qing eras.

These Chinese ceramics have now become highly desired collectibles that fetch up to tens of thousands of ringgit in antique shops as well as at auctions.

One of the world’s leading experts on Chinese ceramics from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute in China, Prof Cao Jianwen, is in Kuala Lumpur to help authenticate ancient ceramics found in Malaysia, including blue-and-white porcelain and celadon.

Prof Cao is delivering a lecture today on the Authentication of Jingdezhen Porcelain Exported to Southeast Asia during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The slide presentation and authentication session will include Prof Cao’s research findings on the origins of the ceramic export trade to South-East Asia, kiln sites, types of porcelain, motifs, glazes, forms, uses and trade destinations.

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