Merchant Royal

The Explosion of Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes

Odyssey Marine has arrested three additional shipwreck sites besides the Sussex. There has been much speculation as to which of these sites, if any, was responsible for the Black Swan treasure recovery. It's certain that the Black Swan is not the Sussex.

The first verified complaint filed by Odyssey Marine in September of 2006 is most likely that of the Merchant Royal. In the 2006 complaint Odyssey noted that "The Defendant Shipwrecked Vessel is believed to be a merchant ship lying at a depth of approximately 100 meters deep beyond the territorial waters or contiguous zone of any sovereign nation, approximately 40 miles from Lands End near the English Channel." Lands End is the general area where the Merchant Royal is said to have gone down.

The second verified complaint filed by Odyssey Marine in April, 2007 is most likely that of the SS Ancona, an Italian passenger liner torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915 off the southeastern coast of Sardinia. In the complaint of April, 2007 Odyssey wrote "the Defendant Shipwrecked Vessel is believed to be an Italian-registered passenger ship which sank in 1915 during World War I."

The third complaint filed by Odyssey Marine, also in April 2007, is now believed by many to be that of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes and the source of the Black Swan treasure. This conclusion is based upon the amount of treasure that was found, the general location of the Black Swan treasure find that Odyssey has said was "100 miles west of Gibraltar in the Atlantic", and the fact that Odyssey has not found the remains of any vessel (The Mercedes was said to have exploded).

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from the website of http://www.treasurelore.com

MERCEDES - While traveling in a small fleet returning to Spain from South America in 1804, the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, carrying enormous quantities of gold, silver and jewels, was blown up by the British off Cape Santa Maria, Portugal. Spain was at the time a neutral country, but was showing strong signs of declaring war in alliance with Napoleonic France. Acting on Admiralty orders Vice-Admiral Sir Graham Moore required the Spaniards to change their course and sail for England. The senior Spanish officer, Rear-Admiral Don José Bustamente, refused and opened fire on the British, leading to a short battle during which the Mercedes blew up. A Spanish account of the Mercedes describes her as "breaking like an egg, dumping her yolk into the deep." The account also goes on to say that the Mercedes didn't sink, but that "the decks were awash save for the poop." Most of the survivors were rescued from the Mercedes herself from one or two small boats. The English Prize Office removed 4,773,153 gold and silver pesos from the three captured ships, 1,307,634 of which belonged to the king of Spain. Another $1,000,000 in gold and silver, including a solders' fund of 143,070 pesos, was estimated to have gone down with the Mercedes. After the incident Spain declared war on England.

SS ANCONA - image source based on the photograph found at the American Family Immigration History Center.

It is currently believed that the Black Swan site, the 17 ton treasure discovered in May of 2007, is that of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes (see previous post).

On Sept. 13, 2006, Odyssey filed an arrest to a site many believe is that of the Merchant Royal. Wikipedia states: "The Merchant Royal was a 17th century English merchant ship lost at sea off Land's End, Cornwall in rough weather on 23 September 1641. On board were at least 100,000 pounds of gold (nearly one billion USD in today's money), 400 bars of Mexican silver (another 1 million) and nearly 500,000 pieces of eight and other coins, making it one of the most valuable wrecks of all times."

On April 9, 2007 Odyssey Marine also filed an arrest for a third site. This site is almost certainly the Ancona, a passenger ship that was sunk in 1915 by a German u-boat in the Mediterranean. Supposedly the ship's manifest stated that the Anconda was carrying "12 barrels of gold and a shipment of silver bars". It's hard to determine just how much gold this is but a conservative guess is no less than $20Mil in today's value.

Assuming these sites turn out to be the Mercedes, the Merchant Royal, and Ancona, and Odyssey obtains the arrests that they seek, then Odyssey Marine will be hauling up large quantities of treasure for some time. Odyssey will also be assured of being the leader in the treasure hunting business if the current political battle is worked out with Spain concerning the Black Swan and the HMS Sussex, with it's purported billions in gold on board.

The SS Ancona was operated by "Italia" Società Anonima di Navigazione between Genoa, Naples, Palermo, New York and Philadelphia from 1908-1915. 8,885 ton steamship. Dimensions in feet (between perpendiculars): 482 x 58. One funnel, two masts; twin screw; triple-expansion engines with 6-cyclinders; service speed of 14 knots [16.1 miles per hour]. Shipbuilder: Workman, Clark & Co. Ltd., Belfast. Launched 19 November 1907. Maiden Voyage 23 April 1908 Genoa-Naples-Palermo-New York-Philadelphia. Sunk by an Austrian submarine in the Mediterranean on 7 November 1915 during World War One [Italy and Austria-Hungary were at war from 23 May 1915 until 4 November 1918].

The funnels of the ships of the Italia steamship line were yellow. Their rectangular flag was a "blue cross with white border; blue upper quarter at hoist with red "I" in a white six-pointed star; otherwise quarters yellow".

Source: North Atlantic Seaway: an illustrated history of the passenger services linking the old world with the new by N.R.P. Bonsor (Prescot, Lancashire: 1955), pages 469-471.

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from website of http://www.treasurelore.com

SS ANCONA - The SS Ancona, a popular Italian-American liner, which had been making frequent trips between Naples and New York since it had been launched from Glasgow in 1908. Beginning in 1915, German U-boats were lurking in the Mediterranean with the intention of attacking allied war ships transporting troops and munitions to the European front. However, according to ship manifests, when the Ancona left Naples on Saturday November 6, 1915, to make a brief stop at Messina, Sicily, she was carrying no guns or munitions. On board were mostly women and children immigrants along with 83 first class passengers, 12 barrels of gold sovereigns, and a shipment of silver bars.

At 1:00 p. m. off the coast of Cape Carbonara, Sardinia, Captain Massardo spotted two white turrets and four guns from which flew a German flag, which was lowered and quickly replaced by an Austrian flag. Sensing danger, the captain ordered the ship full steam ahead. What happened next depends upon who was telling the story. In testimony given by the captain, the submarine fired a warning shot, at which point the captain immediately stopped his vessel. In spite of his compliance, the U-boat expelled two shots striking the Ancona both forward and aft. As the Ancona radioed for help, an explosion resulted causing the liner to begin to sink rapidly before any life boats could be lowered. Later, German authorities would claim that the reason why the submarine attacked was precisely because the Ancona refused to stop.

Rounding out the trifecta of shipwrecks is the Merchant Royal, probably the richest one of them all.
Odyssey Marine filed their complaint against the Merchant Royal on Sept. 13, 2006.
I thought I would re post some of what was said about the Merchant Royal in May.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Royal

The 700-ton Merchant Royal was built in Deptford, London, in 1627.

Owned by English merchants, she set sail from the Spanish colonies of San Domingo, in the West Indies, captained by John Limbrey.

In January 1637, armed with 32 bronze canons, she arrived successfully in Cadiz, southern Spain, where she rested until 1640.

But during that time she began to leak badly and underwent extensive repairs.
The following summer, a ship employed to transport Spain's colonial loot - silver coins, ingots and gold - caught fire.

The bullion had been put aside to pay for Spain's 30,000 strong army, which were stationed at the time in Flanders.

Captain Limbrey volunteered to take the gold to Antwerp, on his way back to London. The Merchant Royal set sail in late August 1641, trailed by her sister ship, the Dover Merchant. But during the journey she began to leak and rescuers were unable reach her in time.

Eighteen men drowned and 40 crew, including Capt Limbrey, had to be rescued by the Dover Merchant.

The loss of the treasure made headlines. Back in 1641, the ship’s hold was equivalent to one-third of the national exchequer. Samuel Pepys refers to the event in his diary and proceedings in the House of Commons were interrupted for the news to be announced.

Several salvage teams have sought to recover her treasure over the years but all have failed until now.

There was confusion as to where she had actually gone down, with conflicting eyewitness reports. Original papers relating to her final resting place state that witnesses on another ship calculated that it sank ten leagues (around 35 miles) from Land's End. But experts insist they would have been too far out to actually see land.

According to a 17th century pamphlet from the British Museum there are survivors' accounts of the disaster and the attempts of seamen to save a treasure chest containing "300,000 pound in ready bullion and 100,000 pound in gold".

There are also reports that the vast personal wealth of the Captain, John Limbrey, went down with the ship as well. Some say that his wealth included 100,000 gemstones.

Spain has responded to the amended complaints filed by Odyssey Marine on Aug. 6, 2007 concerning the Lands End and Black Swan shipwrecks.

From justia.com the Land's End response is here:

MOTION to dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint and for Other Relief by Kingdom of Spain
http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2006cv01685/186117/46/0.pdf

MEMORANDUM in opposition for protective order filed by Kingdom of Spain
http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2006cv01685/186117/47/0.pdf

From justia.com the Black Swan response is here:

MOTION to dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint and for Other Relief by Kingdom of Spain
http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00614/197978/37/0.pdf

MEMORANDUM in opposition for preliminary injunction, or preliminary injunction filed by Kingdom of Spain
http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00614/197978/38/0.pdf

MEMORANDUM in opposition for protective order, for protective order filed by Kingdom of Spain
http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00614/197978/39/0.pdf

From justia.com the Ancona response is here:

MOTION to dismiss Plaintiff's Amended Complaint and for Other Relief by Kingdom of Spain.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00616/197307/41/0.html

MEMORANDUM in opposition toMotion for preliminary injunction filed by Kingdom of Spain.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00616/197307/42/0.html

MEMORANDUM in opposition for protective order filed by Kingdom of Spain.
http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00616/197307/43/0.html

Interviews:

Greg Stemm from Odyssey, and James Goold, Spain's lawyer, each gave interviews to Emilio J. Lopez from EFE just as the response was published. It pretty well sums up the opinion from both sides.

Greg Stemm's interview on Sept. 18, 2007: http://noticias.notiemail.com/noticia.asp?nt=11439397&cty=200

James Goold's interview on Sept. 20, 2007: http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/629887/

Clump of Silver Coins

Filed with Spain's response to Odyssey's complaint are the copies of the export license that Odyssey filled out in Gibraltar. These copies were turned over to Spain by the UK.

See it here: http://casedocs.justia.com/florida/flmdce/8:2007cv00614/197978/37/1.pdf

A summary of the documents reveals that Odyssey shipped the following on April 10th, onboard a Gulfstream GV private jet:

203 Eight Escudo Gold Coins
10,090 Eight Reales Silver Coins
200 lbs Copper Ingot Bar
2 Tin Ingot Bars
3 Gold Boxes
1 Bronze Ingot Bar
1 Cannon Ball
1 Cannon Ball Fragment
1 Bronze Pulley Wheel
11 Wood Fragments
1 Clay Sample

The second flight aboard the Boeing 757 on May 16th simply says that there were:

551 plastic containers containing clumps of encrusted silver coins
1 white box, 2' x 3', containing clumps of encrusted silver coins.
4 copper ingots
total - 556 containers.

http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_headlines.php?id=1837

"The May license forms are believed to claim that Odyssey's cargo was discovered some180 nautical miles west of Gibraltar and consisted of "encrusted clumps of silver coins in a corroded condition."

The license obtained for a value of the 500,000 coins at $2.5-million, or $5 apiece. Far lower than the publicized amounts which has seen share prices increase.

Whilst the export licenses were not necessary, according to the Chief Minister himself who explained this summer to gibfocus that they were not required for products in transit the company was issued with two.

In one it described the treasure found as 10,800 silver and 203 gold coins. Local customs were informed that it has also brought to the surface three gold boxes; copper, tin and bronze ingots; a cannonball; and a bronze pulley wheel worth $1.49 million.

In its application for the second export license, Odyssey said it was transporting "557 plastic buckets containing clumps of encrusted silver coins" and four copper ingots worth an estimated $2.5 million."

NOTES:

The documents show that Odyssey shipped 557 buckets of items from Gibraltar. In an earlier Statement by Greg Stemm he mentioned that there were 552 "containers of silver coins". The export license also makes clear that the 552 containers were "plastic buckets containing clumps of encrusted silver coins".

The export license also shows an average bucket weight of 26.33Kg, which is 60.25 lbs. each. 552 buckets, each weighting approx. 60lbs would be close to the 17 tons of silver that they announced they recovered.

Spain, having followed the ship's movements during March and April of 2007 suggested that Odyssey did not have enough time to recover 500,000 coins in the time period that their ships were off in the Atlantic. These 60lb. clumps prove that it was at least possible to do the recovery in 17 days or less.

One last interesting fact about the clumps:
Each eight reale coin weighs 27.468 grams.
1000 of these coins would weigh 27.468Kg.
The average bucket weight was 26.33Kg or 60.25 lbs.
The coins might have been stored in bags of 1000 coins each.
Why they were found without signs of a shipwreck is yet to be determined.