British And Spanish Fight Over The Sussex

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

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What is probably the richest sunken treasure in the world, the Sussex, a British warship that went to the bottom of the Mediterranean in 1694 with a cargo of coins now worth up to $4 billion, has become embroiled in a bitter diplomatic dispute that pits Spain against Britain, the United States and an American company that wants to salvage the wreck.

 

The conflict turns on arcane and often disputed aspects of international law that govern sovereign waters and the rights of shipwreck owners and finders.

 

Spain claims the waters off the coast of Gibraltar. Britain claims the ship, says its decomposing hull rests in the high seas and has struck a deal with the American company, Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Florida, to split the recovery's proceeds.

 

Last month, the company had its 250-foot, or 76-meter, ship lower a seven-ton robot with lights, cameras and flexible arms to begin an archaeological survey, the first step in recovery of the wreckage of the ship, which lies in waters a half-mile, or one kilometer, deep. The goal is positive identification of the wreck and looking for the lost coins, which the company says are most likely gold, nine tons of it...

[longbow]

Its just the Spanish trying it on,the Sussex is a British war ship full of British Artifacts and Gold coins of course .The Spanish are just p****d because they requested the return of sovereignty over the Island, but this was rejected by the people of Gibraltar.