according to a article in fla time union --odessey vessel is mercedes *

[ivan salis]

articles states judge made oddessey reveal the "name" but not the location --you can expect spain to try to play the soverign immunity card --now -- saying it was a military vessel and thus "claim" it all -- if spain wins and oddessey gets zip for their recovery efforts (hopefully this will not occur) -- but if it does oddessey needs to "return" the silver to spain "via" ship then at the exact location were they got it dump it right back into the ocean --saying yep its spains --so we put it right back where we found it (never giving up the location of the site of course) --so now spain can go get "their" silver. now that would be fair --

 

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[GOLDandSilver]

I don't know much about the ships that Oddessy named, (I think there were two) but it stands to reason that Spain plundered the gold and silver from the Indians/New World which essentially means it was stolen in the first place. The ship was sunk by a British ship, lost in battle..had the British been able to board the ship and loot it, the British would have taken it all (all's fair in love and war?) and what, Spain is going to go back to Britain in the courts and say give us our stuff back? This is all so stupid. Finder's keepers. Just because it was on a Spanish ship does not mean it belonged to the Spanish unless of course you can claim items you stole are yours.If anyone had a claim it should be the people the Spanish stole it from in the first place.

 

[jeff k]

Ivan... Odyssey told the Court that it could be the Mercedes. You'll note below that they said the Mercedes was a mail ship, carrying passengers and a commercial cargo, so Spain will have a hard time proving sovereign immunity.

"Interrogatory #3: State your working hypothesis that the site relates to a particular vessel or one among several vessels.

Answer: At this point in Odyssey’s investigation, there is no confirmation that this site represents any specific vessel. In fact, the most outstanding characteristic of this site is the actual absence of a vessel. Odyssey discovered, at the site, a large field of artifacts including coins and other ships cargo, but no ships hull, ballast pile or keel which is typically associated with a shipwreck. One vessel Odyssey has considered which may be related to the site is the “Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y la Animas” (the “Mercedes”) a Spanish vessel which had been assigned to transport mail, private passengers and consignments of merchant goods and other cargoes at the time of its sinking in 1804. There is information under review, however, which may be inconsistent with a hypothesis that the wreck site is that of the Mercedes. Among other things, this conflicting information includes report that the Mercedes has already been located in a different location.
Odyssey is also considering the following theories:

1. The distribution of the artifacts could indicate jettisoned cargo, although pattern would have required the ship to remain in a relatively small area while the cargo was being jettisoned, which may have been possible depending on the weather and currents.

2. The cargo nay have come from a ship which was lost in a storm in the area. This site lies in a heavily traveled area, and there were possibly other ships lost during the Colonial period which could account for this silt, but have so far eluded our researchers and archivists.

3. The cargo may have come from a pirate ship that is reported to have been lost in he area during the period that correlates with the dates on the coins documented to date.

Analysis of the data from the site is ongoing and individual artifacts are being conserved and analyzed to determine whether they support any of these hypotheses.

Odyssey believes that additional research and archaeological excavation will need to be undertaken at the site in order to prove or disprove any of these theories."

 

[ivan salis]

aye ---its a "pirate vessel" -- thus no nation can claim it as theirs ---aaarrrggghh --the well known "pirate defense" --it was a pirate vessel in international waters --now prove it ain't -- hardy har har har

 

[mariner]

I think that Jeff is right in saying that Spain will have difficulty proving Sovereign Immunity from a salvage claim. The International convention on salvage extends protection to State Owned ships that are on strictly non-commercial duties. As I understand it, this was not the case with the Mercedes. I suspect that the court will find that it is a Spanish vessel, and may even award Spain a small percentage of the value of the cargo, but that Odyssey will come out the big winner, in this particular battle. Given their knowledge of International law, I do not really understand why Odyssey has played such a cat and mouse game with this wreck. Wasn't it always pretty clear that they would have to share the likely identity of the ship with Spain?

As for the idea that Peru has some kind of claim, that has no chance of succeeding.

Mariner