To come back 300 years later... 30 decades... roughly 12 generations, is ridiculous. That's like me say somebody wronged my great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather and I now what to challenge it. It's history at this point. Certainly, Spain has history in the Florida area. If the Spanish have interest in this part of their history and want to visit St Augustine, or any part of Florida, get a passport and a plane ticket and visit! Museum hours are public knowledge and we'll welcome the visit.
If the 1715 fleet was loaded with coconuts, or some hazardous material, I have no doubt Spain would be very, very quiet. This leads me to believe this is nothing other than greed. Spanish archives themselves state 2 ships were lost in deep water. Is Spain going after them? No. They're trying to steal the hard work of others because it's easier than doing the hard work themselves! The fact is that "shipwreck engineers" (I don't believe "treasure hunters" accurately portrays the hard work that currently occurs), have invested tons of research time and personal money, while busting their a$$ doing hard labor while dealing with sharks, lawyers, murky water, tidal surges, sunburn, dive related illness, and the potential damage or destruction of their own vessels on the reefs. Yet it is their perseverance that leads them to continue researching, develop new strategies, and invest in and use new technologies that we may all profit from seeing these amazing artifacts.
Why not try to learn as much as we can about history? Without a doubt, the beauty of some of the artifacts found is unprecedented. Responsibly find it, show it, and be proud of it! There are many suspicions but we don't know the full story of these ships yet. Why did those 2 1715 ships disappear in deep water? Did they disappear in deep water or did they flee elsewhere? Did they succomb to Jennings? Heck - why are we looking for MH 370? Why - the answer to all of these questions and more is because we don't yet know the full story and there is vast information yet to be learned and shared. Shipwreck engineers are doing an outstanding job at getting closer to the truth while being under considerable constraint (e.g., Canaveral and Amelia area).
Affected are the very people that have spent their lives trying to learn from these events and disseminate the information to the public. What does Spain want to do - open a museum? How about using some of what Spain already recovered? Surely, there was more than enough that made its way back for a museum. Spain's own archives state that.
If this is about money, there are many ships still missing. I don't know that any fleet has been found in it's entirety. Many ships never made it to Spain and are still lost. Hundreds. Have at it Spain! Don't try to steal the hard work of others. Entitlement doesn't work well for teenagers and it won't work well for Spain.
Finally, technically, there is absolutely no proof what 1715 wreck is what on the treasure coast and there is absolutely no way anybody can conclusively prove at this time if a specific site is from the 1715 fleet, a pirate vessel, some vessel sent from Cuba, a British or French sailed ship, or a vessel from Virginia.
