SS Tilawa treasure

Physics guy

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Mar 31, 2024
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Shipwrecks
On May 8, 2024, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Argentum Exploration Ltd is not entitled to a salvage fee for the $43 million worth of silver bars it recovered from the SS Tilawa in 2017.

https://www.ft.com/content/a49a44ca-8a1c-446c-b957-495398d1f348

The court explains its reasoning in this video:



Total word-salad IMO. The events in this case seem to exactly parallel the Spain vs Odyssey case re the Mercedes. In that case the US State Dept. urged the 11th Circuit Court (via an amicus brief) to rule in favor of Spain. In this case it would not surprise me if the UK Foreign Office similarly urged the UK Supreme Court to rule in favor of South Africa, also for reasons unrelated to the merits of the case. But I’m just speculating on the latter.
 

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I would urge Paul Marshall to dump all the bars back in the ocean close to the site where they were recovered from and spread them around a bit. I urged Gregg Stemm and their lawyer Melinda Carlisle to do the same with the treasure from the Mercedes. If you don't know how to counter the Archies in court at least circumvent them from getting the treasure back. Stop setting bad precedence for the rest of us.
 

Agreed. The courts seem to think that marine salvors are charities operating pro bono.

I hope the RMS Republic project comes off without a hitch.
 

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