One of the worst precedences was committed by Odyssey Marine when they allowed Spain to take back all the 17 tons of coins. At the time of losing the court case I wrote a letter to both Greg Stemm and Melinda MacConnel to take all the coins and dump them back in the ocean on the location where they recovered them. Just spread them around a little and apologize to Spain and just say sorry but we put them back. That's what happens when you get amateurs in this industry causing undue precedence.
They didn’t have much choice, since the treasure was seized after they landed it in the US and Spain took legal action. The Lower federal Courts in Tampa and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled in favour of Spain, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied Odyssey's final appeal in 2012.
Among other things, the courts upheld that the treasure belonged to Spain because allowing Odyssey to keep it “
would be inconsistent with Spain's rights under the 1902 Treaty of Friendship and General Relations between the United States of America and Spain."
Article X of the treaty, which is still in force, states that: “
In all cases of shipwrecks, damages at sea... each party shall afford to the vessels of the other, whether belonging to the State or to individuals, the same assistance and protection and the same immunities which would have been granted to its own vessels in similar cases."
Although the agreement wasn’t originally intended to cover the situation of historical shipwrecks, the courts ruled that because the United States protects its own sunken military vessels from unauthorized salvage, it must grant the same immunity from salvage to Spanish vessels as part of the reciprocal nature of the treaty. The consequence is that a Spanish vessel cannot be legally considered “abandoned” unless Spain explicitly signs away its rights. The ship’s cargo is also legally regarded as an extension of the wreck itself, and has to be afforded the same protection.
Had the unauthorised salvage been conducted by a non-American company, the situation would likely have been no different. Although the American courts were very mindful of the 1902 treaty, most maritime countries respect the principle that a ship’s status is absolute under customary international law, such that sunken government vessels (warships and non-commercial state craft) retain sovereign immunity and ownership after sinking and remain the property of their flag state forever unless explicitly abandoned (notable non-respecting countries are Colombia, Peru, and China). If the treasure had been landed in a country respecting that principle, the outcome would likely have been the same (seizure and ultimate return to Spain).
For non-sovereign vessels, the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage would sometimes apply, but there are 110 countries who haven’t signed up to it… including the United States and the United Kingdom. Spain has signed up.
