http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/115815.html
Odyssey Marine has run into anticipated problems with regards to it's recent discovery of a 17th Century merchant ship. Spain, in whose waters Odyssey Marine has said lies the shipwreck of the HMS Sussex, is suspicious that Odyssey Marine recent horde of treasure was the result of the looting of the Sussex site. "We can confirm that the Black Swan is not HMS Sussex and that the Black Swan was not found in waters anywhere near the shipwreck believed to be HMS Sussex," Odyssey said in a statement.
There are experts who believe the Black Swan shipwreck is the remains of the Merchant Royal.
Richard Larn, a veteran British diver and shipwreck expert, says he knows the ship's identity and it's certainly not the Sussex.
"It's the Merchant Royal," Larn said in an interview from the Isles of Scilly, off the southwest coast of England. Larn said that Odyssey Marine has discovered the Merchant Royal at a site approximately 22 miles southeast of the Scilly Isles. The ship went down in 1641 with a hold full of Spanish coins destined to pay its soldiers at war in Flanders.
Odyssey Marine has commented several times that the wreck was not the Sussex. It would be foolish for a public company to make such a statement and not be true. The Sussex site was recorded as required by the UK and any disturbance to the site would be easily discovered.
The Sussex project was given the go ahead by the UK and Odyssey was waiting for the Spanish authorities to assign archaeologists to monitor the operation.