Sunken Treasure Worth $500 Million Found Off England

An anonymous reader writes "In a modern day (and underwater) version of Indiana Jones, the AP is reporting that Odyssey Marine Exploration has recovered an estimated $500 Million in colonial coins from a 400 year old shipwreck in the Atlantic. The exact location of the wreck is still undisclosed. Odyssey is a for-profit, publicly traded company. 'In seeking exclusive rights to that site, an Odyssey attorney told a federal judge last fall that the company likely had found the remains of a 17th-century merchant vessel that sank with valuable cargo aboard, about 40 miles off the southwestern tip of England. A judge granted those rights Wednesday. In keeping with the secretive nature of the project dubbed ''Black Swan,'' Odyssey also is not discussing details of the coins, such as their type, denomination or country of origin. Bruyer said he observed a wide variety of coins that probably were never circulated. He said the currency was in much better condition than artifacts yielded by most shipwrecks of a similar age. The coins -- mostly silver pieces -- could fetch several hundred to several thousand dollars each, with some possibly commanding much more, he said.'"

Comments

Re:Registration required...

[bstempi]

Everybody did already think or even write here that Zonk is not needed.

English...do you speak it, mothafucka?

A Federal Judge...?

[glawrie]

What has a federal judge got to do with property rights 40 miles off English coastline? I knew that the US had ambitions of a colonial nature, but this surely is a step too far...! Or is it that the UK has quietly become a federation while I slept?

Re:RTFA, dumbass

[segedunum]

You're a dumbass. Territorial waters and airspace extend 12 nautical miles from the coastline.

No, that's not the way things work. The sphere of influence extends beyond that, dipshit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Economic_Zo ne

12 nautical miles of territorial waters is the immediate control any nation has over the seaways around its coastline. As for the use of natural resources, salvage and marine resources, this logically has had to extend an awful lot further. There has been a general requirement to request permission from the nation when salvaging in their economic zones as in the case of a vessel Japan have been salvaging in China's zone in 2002. This wreck site could also come under cultural heritage agreements, although this is slightly sketchy. Salvage law is not applicable to that though.

They, being a US company, asked a US judge to do this. 40 nm off the coast is not territorial water, the brits have no territorial control over it.

Yes, they do. See above. Seems like a judge needs to read something about current maritime law, but the US never ceases to surprise me.

You, sir, a typical, useless, slashtard.

Typical anonymous fuckwit who thinks he can quote RTFA. But there you are.