Spain files claim against ship treasure

Spain files claim against ship treasure    Spain has filed a claim in U.S. District Court in Tampa asking that a sunken treasure that may have come from a colonial-era Spanish ship be turned over to Spain.
   The Associated Press reported that American attorney James Goold filed the claim on behalf of the Spanish government. He said that a government such as the kingdom of Spain has not abandoned its sunken ships or sunken property. Thus, he said the company Odyssey Marine Exploration — which found a shipwreck with 500,000 gold and silver coins 'somewhere in the Atlantic' — cannot conduct recovery operations without the authorization of the Spanish government.
   'The kingdom of Spain has not authorized any such operations by Odyssey, and by these legal actions it will see the return of any Spanish property Odyssey has recovered,' Goold said.
   Tampa-based Odyssey made the find two weeks ago. The company said the treasure was not discovered in Spanish territorial water, and was not from the HMS Sussex, a vessel found by the company in the Strait of Gibraltar. Odyssey did get permission from the Spanish government to search that vessel.
   Odyssey has also denied reports out of Great Britain that the treasure was from the Merchant Royal, a British vessel that sank laden with treasure off England in 1641.