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Shipwreck Search as a Service — Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. almost went home with $500 million of booty in 2007 In 2007, a long-lost shipwreck carrying $500 million worth of gold and silver coins was found off the South coast of Portugal. But it wasn’t a government or a university that found it - it was a publicly traded company: Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. Odyssey had found the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which was a Spanish Navy frigate that was hauling precious metal and coins and wool from Spain’s colonies back to Spain when the British sunk in 1804. Odyssey was founded in 1994 in Tampa, Florida and had found other deep-sea shipwrecks before, such the HMS Sussex (1693) and the SS Republic (1853). But las Mercedes was in a league of its own. The sheer amount of treasure on board was tantamount to winning the Powerball. But then Spain sued, claiming that because the ship and the treasure onboard was theirs. Peru also sued, saying the origin of the gold and silver coins was Peruvian. Fast forward 5 years, a US court ruled in favor of Spain, citing an interpretation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) of 1976. Odyssey was also ordered to pay a $1 million fine because they had acted in bad faith when they began extraction without seeking legal clarity on who owned the shipwreck first. Today, Odyssey is still around but has pivoted to deep-sea mineral exploration and extraction. I personally think the “shipwreck search as a service” business model was way more cool though. $OMEX $TMC #Shipwreck #TreasureHunting #OdysseyMarineExploration #NuestraSeñoradelasMercedes #UnderwaterExploration #MaritimeHistory #LostTreasure #Portugal #Spain #Peru #LegalDispute #ForeignSovereignImmunitiesAct #DeepSeaExploration #ShipwreckSearch #MarineArchaeology #HistoricalDiscovery #Oceanography #ExplorationTechnology #TreasureRecovery #Adventure #MaritimeHeritage #Discovery #MarineScience #UnderwaterArchaeology #HistoricalArtifacts #LegalBattle #BusinessModel #Innovation
Duration: 94 sPosted : Tue, 06 Feb 2024 22:29:43Views
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