Merchant Royal

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11759831

A short interview with Greg Stemm of Odyssey Marine concerning the "Black Swan" treasure recovery.
Also, statements from Jim Goold, who has successfully represented Spain in other admiralty cases; and James Delgado, head of the Institute of Nautical Archeology, an educational and scientific group that has explored dozens of shipwrecks over the past 30 years.

Rumors Swirl Around Ship's True Identity

In Britain, there is widespread speculation that the ship is actually the "Merchant Royal." The 17th-century British merchant ship was carrying Spanish silver and gold when it sank off the coast of Cornwall, a county on the southwest edge of England.

Odyssey Marine ships were known to have been working in that area for the past two years, but the company said it will neither confirm nor deny whether the find is from the "Merchant Royal."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117968127.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, on Friday reshuffled his cabinet in anticipation of a general election due in eight months’ time.

César Antonio Molina, the head of the Instituto Cervantes – the Spanish equivalent of the British Council, which promotes Spanish language and culture abroad – will become the new education and culture minister. Carmen Calvo, the former education minister, clashed with Spain’s Roman Catholic hierarchy by making religious education optional in state-funded schools.

Calvo was also an outspoken foe of Odyssey Marine; going so far as to obtain a warrant for the arrest of Odyssey's two ships, the Odyssey Explorer and the Ocean Alert. During the past few weeks she has toned down her statements as more information became available from Odyssey.

Recently Odyssey delivered a sworn statement to key Spanish authorities setting out its position on the shipwreck it has codenamed the Black Swan. The affidavit must have shown how flawed Calvo's position was and ultimately led to her dismissal. Good news for Odyssey.
Many believe that the "Black Swan" shipwreck is really the Merchant Royal.

http://www.chronicle.gi/readarticle.php?id=000011665&title=The%20Gibraltar%20Chronicle

Odyssey Marine Exploration flew sunken treasure from Gibraltar to the US on two separate occasions, not just one as was previously thought. Only one of the planes carried the bulk of the valuable cargo, though the other aircraft was engaged on a crucial mission in the run-up to the main flight.

Details of the flights emerged as Odyssey intensified its efforts to reach a breakthrough in the standoff with Spain.

The company this week delivered a sworn statement to key Spanish authorities setting out its position on the shipwreck it has codenamed Black Swan.

Odyssey is trying to engage with the Spanish authorities to reach an agreed solution to a festering row that for weeks has kept its two vessels effectively blockaded in Gibraltar.

The affidavit signed by Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm follows persistent controversy over the treasure recovered by the company from the wreck, which Spain believes to be that of a Spanish warship.

Until now, attention has been focused on the flight that carried the main haul of treasure to the US. But that flight was preceded by another, far more discreet trip.

The Chronicle can now reveal that on April 10, a Gulfstream GV private jet chartered by the US company took off from Gibraltar bound for the US. On board the plane were a number of coins and artifacts raised from the seabed at the Black Swan site in the Atlantic Ocean.

The flight represented a vital step for Odyssey. The company needed physical evidence to secure legal rights over the site and prevent anyone else from working there.

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_headlines.php?id=1549

A change in ministers within Spain’s Culture Ministry this week will see the first significant effects on Gibraltar as reports suggest that the Ocean Alert, one of the two Odyssey Marine Exploration vessels, is due to leave Gibraltar tomorrow morning.

The Ocean Alert is expected to depart Gibraltar at around 8 - 8.30 am tomorrow, Thursday morning. The vessel is expected to leave by itself, with the Odyssey Explorer staying behind at its present berth in Gibraltar.

Official sources have today confirmed that the vessel is expected to be boarded in an orderly and predetermined way by Spanish officials, in which they are expected to search the vessel. The boarding is, however, not expected to take place within Gibraltar waters and is likely to take place away from Gibraltar, further reducing the political significance of the boarding.

The departure of the Ocean Alert, and the expected boarding of the vessel is expected to reduce the tensions between Spain and the US company, in which the presence of the vessel has already further tainted the image of Gibraltar.

The same sources have this evening indicated that the presence of Odyssey Marine Exploration has been viewed as a political irritant in which Gibraltar has gained nothing out of the activities of Odyssey Marine Exploration in Gibraltar. Suggestions that there has been some gain from the treasure being exported has been denied, with well informed sources indicating that under current laws there was no necessity for an import licence to be applied for. The licence only having been obtained as a way of obtaining a record through which any political wrangling over the actual cargo in transit could be verified officially. Suggestions that this has resulted in gains for Gibraltar have been dismissed by the same high level sources.

Gibfocus also understands that the location of the treasure is off the coastline of El Faro, Portugal and not as first suggested off the coastline of Lands End in the UK. Whilst the treasure is believed to be from a Spanish colonial era vessel, the location of the shipwreck is believed to be within international waters off the Portuguese coastline. Official sources have this evening suggested that the vessel is a Spanish colonial vessel. Odyssey Marine Exploration has, however, continued to keep the location and name of the vessel a secret. Experts have nevertheless suggested that the vessel could be la Mercedes, or Nuestra Senora de Las Mercedes which sank off the Portuguese coastline in the early 1600’s. Tracking positions of the Odyssey vessels indicating that the company did operate in the same area the vessel was believed to have sank.

Many experts believed that the recent treasure find was that of the Merchant Royal. The suggestion that it may be the Nuestra Senora de Las Mercedes is the latest twist in this story.

http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_headlines.php?id=1551

The Guardia Civil has ordered the Ocean Alert, one of Odyssey Marine Exploration vessels, to head to Algeciras after it boarded the vessel at around 10 am this morning.

The arrest has taken everyone by surprise after an agreement had been reached for the vessel to be boarded, but not arrested.

According to information received by gibfocus, Guardia Civil officers are presently on board the vessel and threatened to arrest the skipper unless the vessel was directed towards Algeciras. Crew members and other people on board the vessel are at the moment awaiting to see what happens.

The arrest took place outside Gibraltar waters after the Ocean Alert voluntarily sailed to meet a Spanish naval ship, whilst being followed by Guardia Civil patrols as it left the port of Gibraltar at around 9.11 am this morning.

The boarding of the Ocean Alert, according to Gibraltar Chronicle journalists onboard the vessel, saw Aladar Nesser, formerly the US Attache in Gibraltar who is now in charge of Odyssey's International Business Development, inform Guardia Civil officers when they boarded that they were “being illegally boarded in international waters under threat of force."

http://shipwreck.net/pr140.php

Tampa, FL - July 12, 2007 - Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:OMEX) survey vessel, the Ocean Alert, has been forced by the Spanish Guardia Civil to the port of Algeciras for inspection despite assurances yesterday from Spanish judicial authorities that the ship was only to be inspected at sea and would not be taken into a Spanish port. At this point, Odyssey is assuming that the action on the part of the Guardia Civil is a miscommunication between Spanish authorities.

Odyssey's Panama-flagged ship Ocean Alert was boarded by the Spanish Guardia Civil this morning approximately 3.5 miles south of Europa Point in Gibraltar, which is considered international waters pursuant to the Law of the Sea Convention. After boarding the ship, the Guardia Civil went to the ship's bridge and threatened the Captain of the ship with the use of force if he did not turn the ship around and take it to the Spanish port of Algeciras. The ship has now arrived in Algeciras, and an inspection of the vessel has commenced. An Odyssey representative has been informed that the inspection may take as long as two to three days, and it is anticipated that the vessel will be permitted to leave at the conclusion of the inspection.

The day before the planned departure, Odyssey legal representatives met with the Guardia Civil and the La Linea judge to inform them of the planned time of departure for the Ocean Alert from Gibraltar and to arrange a location for a consensual boarding and inspection at sea in international waters. Although Odyssey has never received a Spanish court order to inspect or seize Company vessels, it has been reported by the Spanish media that a judge in the Court of La Linea de la Concepcion (Cadiz) had issued such an order, apparently assuming that the "Black Swan" recovery was conducted illegally in Spanish territorial waters, which had been reported erroneously in the media. Odyssey has repeatedly stated that the "Black Swan" recovery was conducted in the Atlantic Ocean outside of any country's territorial waters or contiguous zone.

Odyssey recently provided a 109-page legal affidavit to authorities in the Spanish Federal government, the Junta de Andalucia, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and the United States detailing Odyssey's activities leading up to, and after, the announcement of the "Black Swan" discovery. This document (which covered nine years of communications and meetings between Odyssey, the Junta of Andalucia and the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain) was provided in order to address questions posed by the Spanish regarding Odyssey's activities and to reassure all concerned governments and officials that Odyssey has always acted legally and with full transparency in relation to the "Black Swan" project and in all other shipwreck exploration activities.

"We were pleased to provide this information to the interested government officials to help clear up any confusion that has been created by inaccurate media reports," stated Greg Stemm, Odyssey co-founder. "We always attempt to work with appropriate governments on shipwreck projects in which they may have an interest and look forward to addressing any issues of claims or legal jurisdiction related to the "Black Swan" in the proper venue, which is US Federal Court."

In addition to providing the detailed 109-page affidavit, Odyssey announced last week that it will provide additional information as requested by Spain to the U.S. Federal Court judge later this month. This additional information will contain archaeological reports and additional information on three deep-ocean sites located outside the territorial waters of any country on which Odyssey properly filed Warrants of Arrest in the U.S. Federal Court sitting in admiralty jurisdiction. These reports are expected to be filed on or before July 23, 2007 with the U.S. Federal Court, which has assumed jurisdiction over the sites.

http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_headlines.php?id=1569

Tampa, FL – July 17, 2007 – Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:OMEX) survey vessel, the Ocean Alert, was cleared for departure by the Spanish Guardia Civil on Saturday, July 14; however, because of a need to replace required paperwork that was removed from the ship’s bridge during the inspection and a holiday that found authorities unavailable to provide documentation required for departure, the ship has not yet departed. The ship had been detained in the Spanish port of Algeciras since Thursday, July 12, 2007, undergoing a thorough inspection by the Guardia Civil.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072000243.html

TAMPA, Fla. -- A ship belonging to Florida deep-sea explorers has left Spanish waters, ending the latest round in an increasingly nasty dispute with that nation's government over the rights to a vast sunken treasure.

Odyssey Marine Exploration's ship chugged out of Spanish waters Thursday, a day after Spanish authorities released the vessel. They seized the ship July 12 after it left British-controlled Gibraltar to search the vessel for clues as to the origins of an estimated $500 million in silver coins and other artifacts salvaged from a still undisclosed shipwreck.

Some experts believe Odyssey found the wreck of the Merchant Royal, a British ship loaded with tons of Spanish coins that sank off the southwestern tip of England in 1641. The company received exclusive salvage rights to a wreck site in the area where the Merchant Royal is believed to have gone down.

***************************************************************************************************************
Filed & Entered 06/27/2007
Terminated: 06/27/2007

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
IN ADMIRALTY
ODYSSEY MARINE EXPLORATION, INC.
Plaintiff, CIVIL ACTION
vs. Case No.: 8:07-CV-00614-SCB-MAP
THE UNIDENTIFIED, SHIPWRECKED
VESSEL, its apparel, tackle,
appurtenances and cargo located within
center point coordinates:
(to be provided to the Court under seal),
in rem,
Defendant(s).
________________________________________/
UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND TO
KINGDOM OF SPAIN’S MOTION FOR MORE DEFINITE STATEMENT
AND OTHER DISCLOSURE OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO DISMISS
COMES NOW, Plaintiff, ODYSSEY MARINE EXPLORATION, INC. (“Odyssey”), by
and through undersigned counsel, and moves this Honorable Court for an extension to respond to
the KINGDOM OF SPAIN’s Motion for Definite Statement and Other Disclosure or, in the
Alternative, to Dismiss (Docket #16) in this matter, and in support thereof would state:
1. ODYSSEY and the KINGDOM OF SPAIN have discussed this matter in detail
and have agreed that an extension should be granted until July 23, 2007.
2. The reason for the extension is to allow ODYSSEY to conduct more research and
to respond fully and completely to the Motion for Definite Statement and Other Disclosure or, in
the Alternative, to Dismiss.
3. It is anticipated that part of the response will be additional information provided
to the KINGDOM OF SPAIN.

WHEREFORE, in light of the KINGDOM OF SPAIN’s agreement, it is requested that
the Court permit ODYSSEY until July 23, 2007, to respond to the Motion for Definite Statement
and Other Disclosure or, in the Alternative, to Dismiss.
MEMORANDUM OF LAW
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 6(b) provides that the Court can always
extend or enlarge times when justice so requires. In this instance, it is in the benefit of justice to
allow the extension of time to respond to the KINGDOM OF SPAIN’s motion.
CERTIFICATE UNDER LOCAL RULE 3.01(g)
Pursuant to Local Rule 3.01(g), undersigned counsel certifies that he has conferred in
good faith with counsel for Claimant, Kingdom of Spain, concerning the substance of this
motion, and that counsel agree on the resolution of same.

***************************************************************************************************************

Odyssey recently provided a 109-page legal affidavit to authorities in the Spanish Federal government, the Junta de Andalucía, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and the United States detailing Odyssey’s activities leading up to, and after, the announcement of the “Black Swan” discovery. This document (which covered nine years of communications and meetings between Odyssey, the Junta of Andalucia and the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain) was provided in order to address questions posed by the Spanish regarding Odyssey’s activities and to reassure all concerned governments and officials that Odyssey has always acted legally and with full transparency in relation to the “Black Swan” project and in all other shipwreck exploration activities.

It is not know if this affidavit meets the requirements of the July 23rd deadline.

After being detained, searched, and then cleared by the Guardia Civil in Andalusia, the Ocean Alert was detected by AISlive in the port of Falmouth, England. Her sister ship, the Odyssey Explorer, is still docked in Gibraltar and will probably have to submit to a search by Spain if she wants to leave the Mediterranean.

The Ocean Alert is strictly a survey vessel while the Explorer has ROV capabilities and is used for recovery operations. It is doubtful that any additional recovery operations will commence without the Explorer unless the company has leased additional ships for that purpose. It is believed that the company has at least two ROVs.

Unless Spain tones down it's stance concerning treasure recovery in and around it's waters it seems likely that the ships will use other ports other than Gibraltar for future operations. In the past the Odyssey ships have used Gibraltar and the Mediterranean as a winter port.

Some experts believe Odyssey found the wreck of the Merchant Royal, a British ship loaded with tons of Spanish coins that sank off the southwestern tip of England in 1641. The company received exclusive salvage rights to a wreck site in the area where the Merchant Royal is believed to have gone down. This makes Falmouth a very interesting port of choice.

http://shipwreck.net/pr142.php

Tampa, FL - July 23, 2007 -- Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMEX) today filed Motions for an Extension of Time to file its responses to Claimant, Spain's, Motions for More Definite Statements filed in the three admiralty arrests which Odyssey currently has pending at the U.S. District Court that has assumed jurisdiction over the sites.

Odyssey filed these motions primarily as a result of the unexpected seizure and detention of Odyssey's survey vessel Ocean Alert by the Spanish Guardia Civil from July 12 through 18. Among other items, the Guardia Civil confiscated confidential attorney/client privileged documents as well as a laptop computer belonging to one of Odyssey's attorneys which also contained attorney/client privileged information relative to the documents being prepared for the court. To date the Guardia Civil has not yet released the hard drive of the attorney's laptop.

The detention also required two of Odyssey's lawyers to travel to Algeciras to deal with the legal issues there. The rest of Odyssey's legal team and in-house counsel have been working on issues related to the illegal boarding including flag state rights. As a result, Odyssey requested additional time to prepare its responses, but the Spanish Government refused. Consequently, Odyssey filed a motion with all three Judges in all three cases citing last week's extraordinary events and requesting more time for the preparation of additional pleadings.

"Since Spain's request, our team has been diligently working on Odyssey's responses to Spain's Motions for More Definite Statements in all three cases," said Melinda MacConnel, Esq., Odyssey's General Counsel. "Unfortunately, our legal team's focus was pulled away from this work by the recent illegal seizure and detention of the Ocean Alert and the continued blockade of our other vessel, the Odyssey Explorer. If the Spanish officials had abided by the terms of the inspection of the vessel which had been agreed to in advance, we would have had time last week to complete our responses. We had arranged for a compliant boarding with both the Judge in La Linea and the Guardia Civil but were frankly caught off guard when they reneged on the agreement and forcefully seized our vessel."

LEON QUIZZES WHITE HOUSE ON ODYSSEY
By Brian Reyes
The controversy over sunken treasure recovered by US company Odyssey Marine Exploration has reached the White House. Bernardino León, Spain’s secretary of state for foreign affairs, told reporters he had raised the matter during a meeting with officials from the White House National Security Council.

He was basing his questions on a statement by George Bush in 2001, in which the president said the US would defend the right of nation states over their sovereign ships.
“Spain has asked for information from the US about the importation across US borders of a series of archaeological remains that Spain considers have been recovered from a Spanish flag ship, a state ship,” Sr León was quoted by Spanish media as saying.
“We have no information [on the treasure haul],” he added.
“We know there are coins, we know there are other objects.”
“We have an idea of what wreck they may have come from, and where it might lie.”
Sr León said Spain would like for its archaeologists to be able to examine the items recovered by Odyssey from the seabed.

http://http://www.chronicle.gi/readarticle.php?id=000011762&title=The%20Gibraltar%20Chronicle

"YEARS OF CONTACT
A detailed chronological account in an annexe to the affidavit shows that Odyssey’s relations with Spain go back to 1998, when the Partido Popular Government of Jose Maria Aznar was still in power.
The company was first granted permission to work on the Sussex project in May 1999, following discussions with both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture in Madrid.
In the ensuing months, Odyssey carried out work on the Sussex project and took Spanish Navy observers on board its vessel to monitor its activities.
In June 2001 however, the Junta de Andalucia intervened and told Odyssey to cease its activities. The Junta argued that only its officials – and not the central Government in Madrid – could grant permission for Odyssey to work in waters off southern Spain. At the time the Junta’s culture department was headed by Carmen Calvo, who would go on to become Culture Minister under the PSOE Government of Jose Luis Zapatero, a post she held from 2004 until earlier this month.
What followed after June 2001 was four years of political and diplomatic wrangling, further complicated by the dispute over the territorial status of the waters in which the wreck of HMS Sussex was located.
Spain claims those waters as its own. The UK and Gibraltar regard them as international waters.
As the negotiations progressed, the dispute over the status of the waters was largely set aside in order to move ahead with the Sussex project, which was seen by some officials in Madrid as a potential model for the future recovery of Spanish wrecks.
By August 2005, after much work behind the scenes, it looked like the Junta was finally on side.
Odyssey was informed via US diplomatic channels that it was cleared by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to proceed with the Sussex project and carry out work to confirm the identity of the wreck. One of the conditions was that the company took on board its vessel a Spanish archaeologist to verify the work, a condition Odyssey agreed to.
But just a month later progress stalled again after the Junta raised further objections and refused to appoint the archaeologist because of concerns about the status of the project.
According to the affidavit the situation prompted the intervention of a senior Spanish diplomat with close knowledge of Gibraltar affairs, Jose Pons, Director General for Europe at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Toward the end of November 2005 Sr Pons wrote to a senior official in the Junta noting that the Ministry of Culture and the Junta had set out their position on the project in a letter to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in June.
Both had agreed to the project so long as certain conditions were met and it was on this basis that Odyssey had received the green light from Madrid.
For Sr Pons, the content of the June letter was “…clear, emphatic and unmistakable.”
“It seems to me a very serious issue in which under no circumstances can we let it be understood that the procedure was incorrectly carried out by us,” he wrote to the Junta official. A copy of the letter is included in the affidavit.
Sr Pons urged the Culture Ministry and the Junta to clarify the terms of their position on the project.
The discussions continued into the following months, with the Junta continuing to raise questions about the archaeological aspects of Odyssey’s proposals.
According to the affidavit even Geoff Hoon, UK Minister for Europe at the time, intervened and wrote to Manuel Chaves, President of the Junta, setting out Britain’s position on the project.
The company provided additional information in response to the Junta’s queries and by March 2007 an agreement on the Sussex project was finally reached.
By this time though, Odyssey’s attention was elsewhere: while everyone was busy discussing the Sussex project, the company had found a colonial era wreck in international waters of the Atlantic. It was code-named the Black Swan.
In early April a small sample of items from the wreck was flown from Gibraltar to Florida on a private jet. It was the physical evidence needed by the company to secure legal rights over the site and prevent anyone else from working there.
In the ensuing weeks the company’s vessel Odyssey Explorer was at work in international waters in the Atlantic Ocean, about 33 nautical miles off Faro.
Odyssey has not identified the name of the wreck but historical documents show that this spot was close to where a Spanish frigate called the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes was sunk by English warships in 1804. The Mercedes was carrying over a million silver coins at the time.
The Odyssey Explorer arrived back in Gibraltar on May 12.
On May 17, a chartered Boeing 757 flew from the Rock to the US carrying 17 tonnes of treasure, and in the process ignited a major row that has yet to be resolved."

The mention of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes is the first indication that the Black Swan shipwreck might not be that of the Merchant Royal, as many have speculated. The Merchant Royal has been an admitted quest of Odyssey and they have been sighted doing survey work in the general area that the Merchant Royal was said to have gone down.

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Lost Gold of the Republic: The Remarkable Quest for the Greatest Shipwreck Treasure of the Civil War Era

http://shipwreck.net/pr142.php

Tampa, FL - July 23, 2007 -- Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMEX) today filed Motions for an Extension of Time to file its responses to Claimant, Spain's, Motions for More Definite Statements filed in the three admiralty arrests which Odyssey currently has pending at the U.S. District Court that has assumed jurisdiction over the sites.

Odyssey filed these motions primarily as a result of the unexpected seizure and detention of Odyssey's survey vessel Ocean Alert by the Spanish Guardia Civil from July 12 through 18. Among other items, the Guardia Civil confiscated confidential attorney/client privileged documents as well as a laptop computer belonging to one of Odyssey's attorneys which also contained attorney/client privileged information relative to the documents being prepared for the court. To date the Guardia Civil has not yet released the hard drive of the attorney's laptop.

http://shipwreck.net/pr143.php

Tampa, FL - July 26, 2007 -- Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMEX) was granted two of the three Motions for an Extension of Time to file its responses to the Kingdom of Spain's Motions for More Definite Statements in the three admiralty arrests which Odyssey currently has pending at the U.S. District Court that has assumed jurisdiction over the sites. The third Motion has not yet been ruled on as the presiding Judge is currently in trial for several more days. The Company's responses to the first two Motions are now due on August 6, 2007.

Odyssey filed these Motions primarily as a result of the illegal seizure and detention of Odyssey's survey vessel Ocean Alert by the Spanish Guardia Civil from July 12 through 18 during which the Guardia Civil confiscated confidential attorney/client privileged documents as well as a laptop computer belonging to one of Odyssey's attorneys. The ship was released when no evidence of wrongdoing was discovered, but the hard drive of the attorney's laptop has not been returned.