Merchant Royal

http://shipwreck.net/pr131.html

Tampa, FL - April 24, 2007 - Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (AMEX: OMR), a leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, announced that its subsidiary, Odyssey Marine Entertainment, Inc., will open SHIPWRECK! Pirates & Treasure, an interactive shipwreck and treasure exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) in Tampa, Florida. The exhibit is scheduled to run from June 22, 2007 through January 31, 2008.

To see what the exhibit is all about click here:

http://shipwreckandtreasure.com

http://shipwreck.net/pr132.html

For the first quarter of 2007, Odyssey reported revenue of $2.2 million, compared to $.9 million in the first quarter 2006. The Company reported a net loss of $3.8 million, compared to a net loss of $3.9 million in 2006. The net loss per share for the first quarter was $.09, compared to an identical $.09 per share in the first quarter 2005.

http://www.gibfocus.gi/details_headlines.php?id=1316

In a covert operation Odyssey Marine has confirmed that the company has shipped the recently found 17 tons of treasure out of the port of Gibraltar aboard a 757 chartered airline. The treasure is considered to be that of the Merchant Royal, a 17th century merchant ship.

It is not known if Odyssey had to pay duties to the authorities in Gibraltar prior to the 17 tons of silver being taken aboard.

Gibraltar is a freeport and most likely the only place where Odyssey could have transported the recovered treasure back to the USA without its' being impounded.

Copyright 2003, Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., Used By Permission.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6672725.stm

It isn't easy to find sunken treasure. Odyssey Marine is a publicly traded company (AMEX OMR) that has spent several years perfecting the art. Besides the latest treasure find that could be the Merchant Royal, in 2003 they have located the SS Republic http://shipwreck.net/ssrepublic.shtml worth $75Mil in treasure; and they have an unprecedented partnership with the United Kingdom in their search and recovery of the HMS Sussex. http://shipwreck.net/sussex.html

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

http://shipwreck.net/pr135.html

Since the recovery of the "Black Swan" shipwreck by Odyssey Marine, intense international media coverage has led to many questions that OMR would like to address:

The link above is from Odyssey Marine's website and answers eight of these questions. In it they confirm that the "Black Swan" is not the HMS Sussex. They did not confirm that the wreck is the Merchant Royal, although OMR did say that the "Black Swan" bears characteristics of one shipwreck in particular and that they "want to be sure of the identity before we announce it."

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/29/Worldandnation/Treasure_may_become_c.shtml

The Tampa Florida company Odyssey Marine Exploration (Amex OMR) is facing a court battle over who owns the treasure that many believe is the Merchant Royal.

James Goold, a maritime lawyer with Covington & Burling in Wash. D.C., said that Odyssey's refusal to identify the ship and it's cargo or location has upset Spain. "The situation is developing very rapidly, and legal action can be expected, " Goold said.

Odyssey has called the legal threat "absurd".

Odyssey Marine will get a salvage award no matter who owns the shipwreck. In past cases the finder typically retains 90% of the salvage.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/31/Business/Spain_sues_Odyssey_Ma.shtml

Spain filed suit Wednesday against Odyssey Marine Exploration over a 17th century merchant shipwreck that many believe to be that of the Merchant Royal. "The Kingdom of Spain has not abandoned its ownership and other rights in sunken vessels of the Kingdom of Spain, in vessels sunk while in the service of the Kingdom of Spain, and in cargo or other property of the Kingdom of Spain on or in sunken vessels," said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Spain's representative U.S. lawyer, James Goold, said that Spain has filed claims against three wrecks that OMR has discovered; an Italian-registered passenger boat, the Ancona, found last year in the Mediterranean; an unidentified vessel located west of Gibraltar; and the latest, the Black Swan, a 17th century merchant ship that drew international attention when it yielded 500,000 silver coins and nearly doubled OMR's stock price overnight.

Spain believes that the Black Swan sank in 1641 while under contract with the King and was carrying Spanish funds. It is not clear just how strong a case Spain has but there are precedents with an earlier case concerning the Juno and La Galga, in which salvagers discovered Spanish ships in U.S. waters and were made to return the artifacts they recovered back to Spain.

A statement from Odyssey said that even if Spain can demonstrate its legal rights over the treasure site, the company still has a way in which they will be able to keep 90% of the find.

The Law of the Sea in a Nutshell (Nutshell Series)

http://shipwreck.net/pr136.html

Odyssey Marine Exploration (AMEX:OMR), a leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, stated today that claims in the press that the Kingdom of Spain has filed a lawsuit against Odyssey were false.

Odyssey’s counsel spoke to Jim Goold, the D.C. lawyer representing Spain, and Goold confirmed in a conversation this morning that Spain has NOT filed a lawsuit against Odyssey, and that any media reports suggesting that a lawsuit was filed are wrong.

The only document filed is a Verified Claim stating that the Spanish Government does not intend to give up property rights to any Spanish property which might be on sites on which Odyssey filed Admiralty arrests during the past year, including two unidentified colonial sites in the Atlantic Ocean and a 20th century steamship.

It has been suggested that the latest shipwreck discovered by OMR was the Merchant Royal. Spain has stated that the Merchant Royal may have been under contract to the King of Spain and therefore the treasure belongs the Spain.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070612005731&newsLang=en

Odyssey Marine Exploration (AMEX:OMR), the world's leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, has been added to the preliminary list of companies scheduled to constitute part of the Russell 3000 Index. This is due to the run up in share price following the recent discovery of the $500Mil "Black Swan" treasure, a codename that many believe is really the Merchant Royal, a ship that sank in 1641 loaded with Spanish Treasure.

Further Reading: The Index Trading Course (Wiley Trading)

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=10736

One of the reasons Spain has contested the recent treasure find of Odyssey Marine is that Spain had seen Odyssey's ships operate in and around the Spanish coast. Odyssey has maintained that the treasure find was in international waters off the coast of England. Spain was not so sure.

Now it is revealed that Odyssey's ships were indeed operating near the Spanish coast but not to take treasure from it's depths but to actually plant some. Odyssey has finally announced this weekend that the presence of its ships in Gibraltar was unconnected with any salvage operation. They were there to participate in a promotion run by Volvo as a promotion for the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The company was commissioned by Volvo to place a treasure chest full of gold doubloons and the keys to a new Volvo for the winner of the competition. They found the perfect site just off of the Gibraltar coast.

In the meantime, however, they also discovered a huge treasure find that many believe is the Merchant Royal off of the coast of England. This find was worth about $500Mil. Spain cried foul and launched a scathing media attack as well as some legal action against Odyssey.

Odyssey has now said that the secretive nature of the ships' movements around the Spanish coast was due to the fact that the company was contractually bound by a nondisclosure agreement with Volvo. Greg Stemm, Odyssey's co-founder said: "It has been a terrible misunderstanding that has inconvenienced a lot of people and cost a lot of money."

Odyssey is now in a stand-off with the Spanish government and it looks like it will stay that way until they announce the identity of the "Black Swan" discovery. Ali Nesser, Odyssey's director for international development, said: "We are trying to defuse the situation as much as possible".

http://shipwreck.net/pr139.html

"Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (currently AMEX:OMR), the world leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, announced today that its application for listing its common stock on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC® has been approved, and the transfer of trading from the American Stock Exchange to NASDAQ will become effective on or about July 10, 2007. Odyssey Marine Exploration will trade under the symbol NASDAQ:OMEX."

Last week Odyssey had been officially included in the Russell 3000, the Russell 2000, and the Russell Microcap Indexes. Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies.

NASDAQ® is the largest U.S. electronic stock market. With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, its systems trade more shares per day than any other U.S. market. NASDAQ is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. is engaged in the exploration of deep-water shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive deep-ocean search and recovery operations around the world. The Company recovered more than 51,000 silver and gold coins from the shipwreck of the SS Republic at a depth of approximately 1700 feet. On May 18, 2007, Odyssey announced the discovery and recovery of more than 500,000 coins from a Colonial era site in the Atlantic Ocean code-named "Black Swan". Odyssey has several other shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world.

The "Black Swan" discovery is regarded by many to be that of the Merchant Royal. 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.