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Curse of the Black Swan
In 1804, a Spanish navy frigate, Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, was carrying 17 tons of gold and silver doubloons from Peru back to Spain when it was confronted by British warships. The Spanish ship refused to surrender, was fired upon, and eventually sunk off the coast of Cadiz, Spain. In the history books, this battle is known as the "Battle of Cape Saint Mary" and is pointed to as the reason Spain declared war on Britain and re-entered the Napoleonic Wars on the side of France.
In 2006, the American salvage company Odyssey Marine found a shipwrecked hull 500 meters below the Mediterranean Sea in international waters. The company did not know the name of the ship, but did know that they had just found buried treasure worth $500 million U.S. dollars. They called their find the Black Swan.
Now, Odyssey Marine is being sued by the Kingdom of Spain. For more than 200 years, Spain has left this "booty" discarded in their own backyard, but now that someone else has done all the heavy lifting, Spain wants the reward. And, they don't want to share. Spain claims that the "Black Swan" counts as an underwater cemetery, and that Odyssey Marine is desecrating its dead. Spain also claims that if Odyssey Marine claims any part of the treasure for themselves, it would amount to an attack on Spain's "historical patrimony."
Traditionally, salvage crews like Odyssey Marine are very understanding of historical finds, and only demand salvage rewards for their undertakings. If Spain wins the legal battle currently taking place in a U.S. District Court in Florida, the Kingdom claims that they won't owe Odyssey Marine a penny for the time, effort and trouble taken to recover the treasure.
What ever happened to finders keepers?