Alison Kentuck, referring to the Merchant Royal: "It certainly sounds likely that that is what they have recovered," she said. "It is a well-known wreck, which is known to have sunk in that area."
The Merchant Royal is the holy grail of shipwrecks. "The ship — owned by a group of London merchants — reportedly had "£300,000 in silver, £100,000 in gold and as much again in jewels" lying in its hold."
As a side note, if Odyssey Marine had taken the treasure to the UK, Britain's receiver of wrecks would have impounded the treasure haul until an investigation into the legal owner was completed. To counteract this, Odyssey Marine shipped the booty to the port of Gibraltar (a freeport) where it was secretly and legally loaded on a chartered 757 and flown back to the USA. The treasure is now at an undisclosed location, probably near Odyssey's headquarters in Tampa, Florida.