Merchant Royal

http://shipwreck.net/pr144.html

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) filed Amended Complaints on August 6, 2007 in three Admiralty arrest cases in response to Spain’s Motions for More Definite Statements. The Company also filed Motions for Protective Order in all three cases to protect the confidentiality of the Preliminary Site Assessments, which include detailed information about the archaeological and exploration activities at the sites to date, and filed Motions for Preliminary Injunction in two of the cases.

As part of the amended complaints, the Kingdom of Spain has been added as a defendant in all three cases, with Odyssey seeking compensation for losses sustained through Spain’s recent actions obstructing Odyssey’s ability to conduct operations. Odyssey is seeking not only relief in the form of a set-off of any award Spain may ultimately receive on any shipwreck, but also affirmative relief for damages caused by Spain's interference with Odyssey's rights to all three sites. In its pleadings Odyssey refers to the activities in Spain during the past months regarding the illegal boarding and seizure of Odyssey’s survey vessel, the Ocean Alert and the continued illegal effective blockade of the Company’s archaeological recovery vessel, the Odyssey Explorer.

The Motions for Protective Order were filed to keep the preliminary site assessments under court seal to protect the security of the sites and to protect Odyssey’s proprietary sources and methods from competitors. The motion requests that before providing the information contained in the reports to Spain, the Court require Spain’s counsel and the Spanish authority taking control over the information to sign a Confidentiality Agreement. Among the reasons for this request is a history of repeated leaks of confidential information from some Spanish government agencies and the fact that Spain’s counsel, James Goold, is the Chairman of an organization, the RPM Nautical Foundation, which is a potential competitor to Odyssey in the provision of underwater archaeological services to Government agencies.

It has been noted that Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) filed Amended Complaints on August 6, 2007 in three Admiralty arrest cases in response to Spain’s Motions for More Definite Statements.

http://shipwreck.net/pr144.html

One of the more interesting items in these filings was the motion requests that before providing the information contained in the reports to Spain, the Court require Spain’s counsel and the Spanish authority taking control over the information to sign a Confidentiality Agreement.

Among the reasons for this request is a history of repeated leaks of confidential information from some Spanish government agencies and the fact that Spain’s counsel, James Goold, is the Chairman of an organization, the RPM Nautical Foundation, which is a potential competitor to Odyssey in the provision of underwater archaeological services to Government agencies.

A link to RPM Nautical Foundation is here: http://www.rpmnautical.org/index.html

Conflict of Interest? IMHO, definitely. But we'll have to wait to see how this plays out in court.

http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_todaysnews.php?id=2650

According to Spanish press reports the Spanish Courts in La Linea has send an official request to the Gibraltar Government for it to prevent any further transfer of equipment or artifacts out of Gibraltar by the US salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration.

News of the requests comes after the Cadiz Fiscal authorities indicated it wished to prevent Odyssey from extracting any more artifacts through Gibraltar, whilst also suggesting that the company should not be allowed to unload any of its equipment from its vessel.

The Spanish Ministry of Culture has also indicated that they will respond to the latest claims made by the US company against the Spanish Government. Claiming that some of the claims made today has no foundation from which to be based on. The Spanish Ministry of Culture claiming that not all information it had requested to be presented has as yet been provided by the US company.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

Tampa Division
In Admiralty

ODYSSEY MARINE EXPLORATION, INC.
Plaintiff CIVIL ACTION
Case No: 8:07-CV-00616-JSM-MSS
THE UNIDENTIFIED SHIPWRECKED VESSEL

its apparel, tackle, appurenances and
cargo located within a five mile radius of
the center coordinates provided to the Court
under seal
Defendant;
in rem

and

The Kingdom of Spain
Claimant and Defendant.

Full Text: http://news.justia.com/cases/357113/27/1.pdf

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX), the world’s leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, today filed a quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing results of the Company's second quarter 2007.

For the second quarter of 2007, Odyssey reported revenue of $1.7 million, compared to $1.9 million in the second quarter 2006. The Company reported a net loss of $6.3 million, compared to a net loss of $4.2 million in 2006. The net loss per share for the second quarter was $.13, compared to $.09 per share in the second quarter 2006.

"This second quarter was a particularly eventful one, and while the slight decrease in revenue and increase in expenses during the second quarter of 2007 may seem disappointing on the surface, the actual events and accomplishments this quarter position the Company for continued growth. The discovery and archaeological recovery of the world’s largest historic cache of coins, weighing 17 tons, from the `Black Swan' site suggests that our business plan is repeatable and sustainable in the long run. At the same time, and despite the challenges following our `Black Swan' announcement, we have continued to monetize our existing coin inventory from the SS Republic. We are also very pleased with the public’s enthusiastic response to our SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure exhibit which opened in June. And finally, Odyssey’s inclusion in the Russell 3000®, Russell 2000 and Russell Microcap Indexes in June and our successful application for a move to NASDAQ which was accepted during this second quarter, have put us on the radar of a wider audience in the investment community and validates our consistent efforts to build shareholder value. All in all, we are optimistic about the future and are looking forward to a resolution of the current issues with Spain, and to getting back to work to continue our search and recovery operations on a variety of active projects,” said John C. Morris, Odyssey’s Chief Executive Officer

Full Text: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070809005608&newsLang=en

By Brian Reyes
A small number of artefacts recovered from the seabed by Odyssey Marine Exploration remain in Gibraltar sealed in a commercial bonded warehouse, the Chronicle has learned.

They were recovered in the Atlantic Ocean and include items of little monetary value but high archaeological importance.
Among them are a coal briquette, pieces of a sextant, ceramics and a number of personal items. All could potentially yield valuable information about the wrecks they came from.
The items were packed at the beginning of June, and inspected by Customs and sealed for export early in July, according to Odyssey project manager Tom Dettweiler.
But he said the company had faced unexplained delay obtaining clearance to fly the shipment from Gibraltar to its base in Tampa, Florida.
The items are in a delicate condition and were packaged for prompt transportation. Without proper conservation, Odyssey fears they may deteriorate and lose their archaeological value. During the same timeframe the company has also been told not to load or unload equipment from its vessel Odyssey Explorer, which remains berthed at the Ministry of Defence Naval Base. These developments took place in parallel to a mounting storm of protest from Spain following the announcement on May 18 that Odyssey had recovered a valuable treasure of silver coins and flown it to Tampa from Gibraltar. The Spanish Government believes the haul may have come from a Spanish galleon and has vowed to protect its sovereign rights. Separately a judge in La Linea is investigating whether Odyssey breached Spanish heritage laws by recovering items in Spanish waters, an allegation the company firmly denies. On Monday the judge made a formal request to the Gibraltar Government for legal assistance in the investigation. The judge wants authorities in Gibraltar to prevent Odyssey from removing any artefacts either from its ship or from the Rock.
News of the request for mutual legal assistance was revealed in the Spanish press on Tuesday morning, even before senior officials in Gibraltar had received it. The Chronicle learned of the items in the bonded warehouse after a Spanish newspaper reported yesterday that officials in Madrid were aware there might still be artefacts in Gibraltar.

August is vacation time in most of Europe and in the US as well. Not much is happening right now with regards to Spain, the Black Swan, and Odyssey Marine. The Odyssey Explorer is still docked in Gibraltar; the Ocean Alert, the ship that was stopped and searched by Spain, is docked in Falmouth Harbour. I would think that the action will pick up on September 19th. which is the deadline for a response by Spain to Odyssey's complaint.

Currently, Odyssey Marine has arrested three shipwrecks sites. There is some confusion as to whether or not the 17 tons of treasure that was recovered from the "Black Swan" is one of the arrested sites. If not, then Odyssey has FOUR shipwreck sites as well as the Sussex. It has been suggested that the site at Lands End is that of the Merchant Royal. The outcome of these initial court proceedings are important for Odyssey and will be watched very closely.

http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2006cv01685/186117/43/0.pdf

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
ODYSSEY MARINE EXPLORATION, INC.,
Plaintiff,
v. CASE NO: 8:06-cv-1685-T-23TBM
UNIDENTIFIED, SHIPWRECKED VESSEL
OR VESSELS,
Defendant(s),

ORDER

Pursuant to Rules 55(c) and 60(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Kingdom
of Spain moves (Doc. 28) to vacate the default judgment entered on May 31, 2007
(Doc. 25), which motion is unopposed by the plaintiff. Accordingly, the motion to vacate
judgment (Doc. 28) is GRANTED and the default judgment (Doc. 25) is VACATED.
Also, the Kingdom of Spain moves under Rule 12(e) for a more definite statement
(Doc. 28). Because the plaintiff has amended the complaint (Doc. 35), the motion for a
more definite statement (Doc. 28) is DENIED AS MOOT. Finally, the Kingdom of
Spain’s unopposed motion (Doc. 40) for an extension of time to (1) respond to the
amended complaint and (2) respond to the plaintiff’s motion for protective order is
GRANTED. On or before September 19, 2007, the Kingdom of Spain shall respond to
the amended complaint (Doc. 35) and the motion for protective order (Doc. 38).
ORDERED in Tampa, Florida, on August 17, 2007.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601409_3.html

An article today in the Washington Post gave an outline of the saga of the Black Swan. Most of the information cited in the article has been known for some time. There was one statement by an Odyssey representative that was new and cleared up a mystery, i.e., how did Odyssey Marine salvage 500K coins in such a short period of time?

"Much of what was recovered was in the form of large, rocklike collections of encrusted coins, weighing an average of 60 pounds apiece and discovered in a "debris field" rather than in a single area that might be the remains of a ship, according to Odyssey's Nesser. That suggests that people aboard the ship might have thrown the cargo overboard to try to prevent a sinking, he said."

If the coins were indeed in 60 pound "rocklike" collectons of encrusted coins then Odyssey would only have to pick up 566 individual items (17tons x 2000 = 34000lbs/60 = 566), not 500,000 individual coins. It was mentioned in the Sworn Statement of of Greg Stemm dated July 5, 2007 that the shipment consisted of artifacts as well as 552 containers of silver coins. Close enough and certainly feasible to be accomplished in the time that the Odyssey Explorer was in the Atlantic during March and April of 2007.

March 23 - Odyssey Explorer sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on April 4 (13 days)
April 17 - Odyssey Explorer sailed west into the Atlantic and returned on May 12 (26 days)

Another part of the article is intriguing indeed, and might be the equivalent of finding the holy grail -

"The papers, in which Odyssey asks to be named "custodian" of the wrecks, do not name any of the ships and give only vague descriptions of their graves, but undersea archaeologists and other experts say there is little doubt what they refer to: the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes; the Merchant Royal, a 36-gun British navy vessel that sank in 1641 in bad weather off southwestern England with a fortune in silver, gold and jewels; and the SS Ancona, an Italian passenger liner torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915 off the southeastern coast of Sardinia, taking 12 barrels of gold and a shipment of silver bars with it to the bottom."

If the experts are correct then Odyssey has found three of the richest shipwrecks ever. Their recovery ship, the Odyssey Explorer, has been forced by Spain's actions to sit in port "at a cost of more than $20,000 a day, company officials said." Perhaps this is small change to them now.

In any event Spain has until September 19th to respond to Odyssey's amended complaints. There should be some interesting news breaking any time soon.

By Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso, The Washington Post - August 27, 2007

A graphic from today's Washington Post showing the supposed shipwreck sites that Odyssey Marine has claimed.