MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain/UK/US controversy over wreck near Gibraltar

The disputed treasure from disputed waters leaving for USA

A Unites States court extended the deadline by which Odyssey Marine Exploration must reply to a request from Spain for information on a wreck arrested by the company in the Atlantic Ocean, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

Officials in Madrid believe the controversial Black Swan treasure may have come from this site. Spain suspects the wreck may be that of a Spanish galleon and has filed a claim with the US court to protect its sovereign rights. Odyssey said it missed the original deadline because its lawyers were dealing with issues arising from the recent detention by Spain of its survey vessel Ocean Alert. The company now has until August 6 to provide the information to the court. In a separate development, the Culture Department of the Junta de Andalucía said it never gave permission for Odyssey to carry out any work on a wreck believed to be that of the English galleon HMS Sussex. Odyssey has an exclusive contract with the British Government to recover items from the wreck, which is believed to lie in disputed waters off Gibraltar. In a parliamentary response cited by Europa Press, Rosa Torres, who heads the Culture Department, said the Junta had received details of a project to identify the wreck but "has not authorized any type of exploration". The response acknowledged that should the wreck prove to be that of HMS Sussex, then it would belong to the British Government under international law. But it added that until that identity was confirmed, "the Junta maintains that the wreck and its cargo are part of Andalusia's historical heritage." She said the Junta's experts were currently assessing Odyssey's proposal, which was forwarded to them by the British Government via Spain's Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The parliamentary answer reflects developments earlier this year relating to the Sussex project. Last March the Spanish and British foreign ministries announced a breakthrough in long-running negotiations over the project to identify the wreck and recover items from the seabed. Just days later, the Ministry for Culture "emphatically" denied granting the company permission to proceed. At the time the Ministry said that under Spanish law, it was the Junta de Andalusia that had exclusive competence to authorize archaeological work "in its territory". That brought an immediate rebuke from the British Government, which said the question of the Junta's authorisation "does not arise in this case". The UK's reasoning, supported by the Gibraltar Government, was that wreck of HMS Sussex lies in international waters and therefore beyond the Junta's jurisdiction. Spain, however, does not recognize any British jurisdiction over the sea around Gibraltar and believes these are Spanish territorial waters.