Subscribe
Renew
Weekly Reader Store
Lead
Who Owns Treasure from Old Shipwrecks?

Firestorm
The visible coins in this image are from the Black Swan. This photo was purposely altered so that the coins could not be identified by the public.
Credit: Odyssey Marine Exploration
A
merican treasure hunters have made a huge find beneath the rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean. The explorers, from a company called Odyssey Marine Exploration, found the sunken remains of a centuries-old treasure ship they have nicknamed the Black Swan. Divers have so far brought up more than 500,000 gold and silver coins from the wreck.

Odyssey Marine Exploration is based in Tampa, Florida. The company makes money by selling treasure to numismatists and other collectors. But before Odyssey can profit from the incredible coin discovery, it has to establish ownership of the coins. Already, the government of Spain has claimed that the ship may have belonged to Spain. If so, Spain says the coins belong to Spain, not Odyssey Marine Exploration. Odyssey has yet to release the type, date, or nationality of the coins. And it won't reveal the location of the shipwreck either.

Treasure
Think About      It!
  • What sorts of artifacts do you think explorers find in shipwrecks that help them figure out where the ship is from and when it sailed?

  • Who do you think should keep lost treasure when it is found? The people who found it? The country in which it is found? The country or families of the people who lost it?
    		•
    The company is keeping the treasure at a secret location in the United States. Experts say it is hard to know for sure how much money the treasure is worth. Some reports suggest that it could be worth as much as $500 million! If so, the Black Swan would be the most valuable shipwreck ever found. Odyssey says there are still artifacts down with the wreck.

    John Morris, one of the founders of Odyssey, says the company is working to figure out more about the Black Swan. Two archeologists oversaw the recovery of the treasure. "Our research suggests that there were a number of Colonial period shipwrecks that were lost in the area where this site is located," Morris said in a press release. The company is not saying if they know the true identity of the ship. Some news reports have suggested that the Black Swan could actually be the Merchant Royal, a British ship that sunk in 1641 with thousands of pounds of gold and silver, many of which were Spanish coins.

    Morris said that Odyssey would share part of the loot if courts decide that other countries, such as Spain or Britain, have a legal claim to it. In the meantime, Odyssey plans to return to the wreck to recover even more artifacts and riches.

    How much do you know about pirates and sailing? Test your knowledge with this pirate-themed crossword!


    Back to Top

    Add to Google Add to My Yahoo! Subscribe with Bloglines Add to del.icio.us Subscribe Now