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TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Odyssey Marine Exploration (NasdaqCM: OMEX), the world's leader in the field of deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, today announced that Mark D. Gordon will assume the duties of President and Chief Operating Officer on October 16, 2007.
Gordon, who has served in various capacities with Odyssey since 2005 and served as Executive Vice President, Sales and Business Development since January 2007, will report to John Morris, co-founder and CEO, and work closely with co-founder Greg Stemm in managing the day-to-day operations of the Company.
“Mark Gordon has been an invaluable part of Odyssey’s team since 2005. His knowledge of our company and his past business experience and successes make him the perfect candidate for this position.” said John Morris. “This move correlates with the departure of George Becker and Davis Howe, who will now serve as consultants focused on developing strategic partnership opportunities in promising, but non-core, business areas.”
George Becker will retire from his position as Executive Vice President of Attractions and will become an outside consultant on October 16, 2007. With 37 years experience as a themed attraction senior executive, Becker will be working to develop strategic partnerships that maximize the value of Odyssey’s unique and inspiring exhibit content.
“Visitor acceptance was very high at Odyssey’s initial exhibit venue in New Orleans, LA and is also very positive at the current location at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, FL. Odyssey has the ability to continually upgrade content through new shipwreck finds,” commented Becker. “Partnership opportunities for fixed and traveling exhibitions, both domestically and internationally are being explored.”
“By exploring opportunities to partner with a best-in-class, well funded operator in the themed attraction industry, Odyssey can capitalize on the investment made to date in the Company’s attraction assets, while still focusing our resources on our core competency, finding shipwrecks and recovering valuable cargo,” said John Morris. “George Becker is a leader with an incredible amount of experience and expertise in the attractions arena and we are very pleased to have him continue working to develop strategic partnerships in this area.”
Also effective October 16, Davis Howe will resign from his position as Chief Operating Officer to focus on determining the feasibility and potential business model for bio technical research of deep sea biological and genetic material recovered by Odyssey as an outside consultant.
“Samples of biological materials have been gathered by Odyssey from deep ocean shipwreck sites, including the SS Republic®, in order to conduct research trials,” said Howe. “Preliminary results from research conducted during the past three years on Odyssey’s samples show some interesting results – and this opportunity allows me to pursue my interest in the field of microbiology while investigating a possible business opportunity that is outside of Odyssey’s core business.”
“Davis Howe has been an important part of Odyssey’s incredible growth over the past three years. His expertise in building teams and systems to facilitate smooth day-to-day operations has been a key factor in our successes,” stated Greg Stemm, Odyssey Co-founder. “We’re excited by the possibilities that may arise from the bio technical project that Davis will be investigating.”
About Mark D. Gordon
Mark D. Gordon worked as an independent consultant for Odyssey beginning in January 2005 before becoming the Company’s Director of Business Development in June 2005. He was appointed Executive Vice President of Sales and Business Development in January 2007, overseeing the Attraction, Business Development and Retail Merchandising operations for the Company. Prior to joining Odyssey Gordon owned and managed four different entrepreneurial ventures from 1987 to 2003 including Synergy Networks which he sold to the Rockefeller Group in 2003. Mr. Gordon founded Synergy Networks in 1993 and served as CEO until September of 2003. He subsequently served as President of Rockefeller Group Technology Services Mid Atlantic (RGTSMA), a member of Rockefeller Group International, from September 2003 to December 2004. Gordon received a B.S./Business Administration in 1982 and MBA in Finance in 1983 from the American University.
 

Currenty on Disney.com's home page!!! -- Odyssey Marine sponsored game -- nice publicity. www.disney.com (the site is pulling up a Hanna Montana thing first and then after a few seconds rolls to the video -- watch the video).
 

gibfocus - 15th October 2007
(2007-10-15 23:55:00 )


Odyssey to depart early morning

The Odyssey Explorer, the main vessel belonging to Odyssey Marine Exploration is to depart Gibraltar at 9am this Tuesday morning confirmed officials from the company this evening.

Following reports over its speculated time of departure gibfocus was this evening informed of the time of departure of the vessel. Reports of the skipper having fractured his hand were also dismissed, with a project manager from the vessel claimed to have been the person involved in the incident and not the skipper.
 

Spain is up to her old tricks again!



Big business of deep-sea treasure hunters
By Kathryn Westcott
BBC News


The interception of a treasure-hunt ship off the coast of Gibraltar is the latest broadside in a tense battle between a US-based salvage company and the Spain over an unidentified shipwreck and its rich cargo of gold and silver coins.


On Tuesday, patrol boats from Spain's maritime police intercepted the 76m Odyssey Explorer, owned by underwater salvage firm Odyssey Marine International, three miles off the coast of Gibraltar. It was ordered to the Spanish port of Algeciras for inspection
Spain's Guardia Civil has been keeping a close eye on the company's vessel since a Spanish judge ordered that it be detained and searched if it left port in Gibraltar.

The company says its recovery vessel has been effectively blockaded since the ruling in June. Spain believes it could provide clues to the identity and location of the wreck that yielded half-a-million colonial era silver and gold coins.

It suspects that a Spanish galleon is being secretly plundered - or that the wreck lies in Spanish waters.

Odyssey Marine Explorations - which became the most famous deep water treasure hunting company when it announced the discovery last May - says it is keeping the location of the wreck secret, to protect the site from looters.

All it is saying is that the wreck - codenamed Black Swan - is somewhere in the Atlantic.

Galleon graveyard


The haul, which has an estimated value of $500m (£350m), is now at a secret location in Florida, where Odyssey is based.


A court in the state is currently considering motions filed by the company and by Spain concerning the ownership of the booty.
Treasure hunters have long dreamed of discovering hauls of gold and silver in the western Mediterranean. The area, is a graveyard of French, Spanish and British galleons and warships sunk by storms and pirates during Spain's long dominance of the sea.

Once the domain of schoolboy fantasies, the hunt for treasure on the deep ocean floor has become big business for companies like Odyssey. And the company's recent listing on the Nasdaq indicates that it is a business that investors are prepared to take seriously.

Odyssey has several shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world, but its involvement with the Spanish goes back almost a decade.


RULES OF THE WAVES
Seas and oceans governed by UN Laws of the Sea
Ownership of sunken property in international waters governed by the law of salvage and the law of finds
Law of salvage: If property is owned, those finding it are entitled to compensation for their salvage efforts
Law of finds: Salvor is entitled to all reclaimed property if it is proved to be abandoned
Spain insists it retains rights to all its sunken treasure
Odyssey intends its haul to be dealt with under US federal law, where previous judgements have sometimes granted exclusive rights to salvors

"Odyssey has had an excellent working relationship with the Spanish Government for many years," Greg Stemm, co-founder of Odyssey Marine Exploration told the BBC News website.
"We have always respected Spain's interest in its maritime heritage and have therefore consistently communicated our activities to Spain."


The relationship has soured over the past few months. In July, another of Odyssey's vessels was stopped and forcibly boarded as it tried to leave Gibraltar. A computer was confiscated.

The company told the BBC News website that it intends to seek compensation from Spain for revenues lost because of the kingdom's intervention in its activities.

British warship

The battle over the Black Swan treasure is now jeopardising another more lucrative project: the salvage of a British warship that Odyssey believes it has discovered in the western Mediterranean.

The British Government is collaborating with Odyssey to recover the warship, thought to be the HMS Sussex, which went down in a storm off Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea in 1694.


According to the Council for British Archaeology, it was on its way to provide British financial support to the Duke of Savoy during the war against Louis XIV. The council says she was believed to have been carrying bullion, which is estimated by some experts to be worth some £2.5bn ($5bn) today.
The warship apparently lies in waters that Britain and Gibraltar claim are international but that Spain claims as its own.

Diplomatic talks resulted in an agreement being reached with Spain earlier this year but the project appears is on hold.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office told the BBC News website that the "on-going court case between Spain and Odyssey should be resolved first."

It is anyone's guess how long this will take.

This will no doubt please archaeologists - including the Council for British Archaeology - who were enraged by the deal.

Experts describe such activities as commercial treasure hunting under the guise of archaeology, arguing that a dangerous precedent would be set allowing private firms to profit from historic wrecks.

Technology

And in Spain, Odyssey's activities have been painted as modern-day piracy.

The company acknowledges that its primary concerns are commercial but it also has a mission statement that sets out how it also wants to do good archaeology.

It maintains that it works to the highest of standards, employing experts and archaeologists.


"Our contract with the United Kingdom sets an excellent example of how such a collaboration between the public and private sector can produce excellent archaeological work," says Mr Stemm.
And he says that the model - the first of its kind with a government - could be extended to other countries, including Spain.

Odyssey undertakes multi-million-dollar operations, deploying sophisticated deep-sea technology and robotics to scour the ocean beds.

On board the Marine Explorer, for example, is a $4m underwater robot Zeus, which deploys an array of brilliant strobe lights and cameras as it carefully picks through debris at depths of up to 2,500m.

The company's first major salvage venture was in 2003 when it discovered the SS Republic, a Civil War side-wheel steamer that sank off the Florida coast in 1865 and some $75m (£37m) worth of coins.

Odyssey has now filed finders-keepers' claims with a court in Tampa, Florida US on the Black Swan and two other shipwrecks.

But Spain is challenging these arguing that the company is withholding crucial information. It is also claiming a right to share the treasure.

Jim Goold, a maritime lawyer in Washington representing the Spanish government, told the BBC News website that the implications of the case are huge in a era when cutting -edge technology is bringing new gravesites to light.

"Here you have a situation in which a US company is apparently systematically working in the Mediterranean, the English Channel and off the coast of Spain, taking cultural heritage without authorisation and then whisking it to the US and steadfastly refusing to reveal to the concerned governments what it has been doing," he said.

Odyssey says the Black Swan recovery was conducted in conformity with Salvage Law and the Law of the Sea Convention, beyond the territorial waters of legal jurisdiction of any country.

It expects to reap a substantial salvage award regardless of who claims the treasure.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7037192.stm

Published: 2007/10/16 11:09:08 GMT

© BBC MMVII
 

Jim Goold, a maritime lawyer in Washington representing the Spanish government, told the BBC News website that the implications of the case are huge in a era when cutting -edge technology is bringing new gravesites to light.


This makes me want to puke.
 

No, he still posts here, but the one you're thinking about is currently being sued by Odyssey for libel. :)
 

OK Jeff, got it straight now! $500,000,000 seems to bring em all out of the bilge! LOL

Tom
 

Jim Goold is part of the law firm of Covington and Burling that represents Hillary Clinton. I was told by a prominent Maritime Attorney that if Hillary is elected, Goold would become almost untouchable. IE, anything Covington and Burling wanted done or any case they represented would be a windfall.

So if Hillary is elected, you can bet Jim Goold will be on a rampage and could certainly spell the end for Commercial Salvage in the US!

So we all need to say NO to Hillary!
 

No Hillary, no.

No no Hillary.
 

I agree Cornelius. But, the cold hard fact is that this business is highly political! I think we need to know who is representing who and who cares about the things we care about.

More and more of our rights and freedoms are being taken away by lawmakers and attorneys. And until we make a stand, it will continue.
 

Can you believe that RPM NAUTICAL is asking for DONATIONS and for $150.00 you can get a DVD, T-Shirt and maybe a Ball Cap.
Everytime I asked for donations or bring up the subject of MONEY I get nailed to the BARN DOOR.
Peg leg
 

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