A Modern day Treasure hunt…Treasure found!!!
A modern day treasure hunt may not be as bright for the hunter as they hoped. A Florida based treasure hunting company called, Odyssey Marine Exploration found a sunken treasure worth over $500 Million dollars off of the coast of Gibraltar. Spanish authorities are trying to determine if the treasure was taken from their waters or from a Spanish galleon, HMS Sussex that shipwrecked in 1694.
Spanish authorities are calling the find suspicious. According to current laws it is unlawful to take treasure from Spanish waters or a shipwrecked Spanish galleon. However, Odyssey Marine Exploration claims to have found the treasure in international waters and had nothing to do with the sunken ship the Sussex. Gibraltar’s government also said the find was not related to the Sussex either.
Now that it’s under investigation will the Spanish laws prevail?
My thought: While it is important to preserve history in this type of situation, I think that the treasure hunter should still receive a hefty finder’s fee at least. If this ship really did sink more than 3 centuries ago, why didn’t the Spanish try harder to find it?
It’s not right to allow them to search in nearby waters and when they find something try to take it away, just because the Spanish didn’t put enough effort into finding their sunken ship. Now the Spanish want to be the pirates!
