MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Odyssey ship arrested after gunpoint encounter at sea

<i>Odyssey Explorer</i> has been berthed at Gibraltar's British naval base since May

'Odyssey Explorer', the flag ship of the treasure hunting sea archaeologists Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME), has been arrested along with its captain by the Spanish authorities following a dramatic gunpoint encounter at sea three miles south of Gibraltar.

Some 19 international journalists, who joined the vessel for its departure from the Rock which had been signalled to the Spanish authorities, were removed from the vessel with crew at Algeciras and had all photographic equipment including chips from mobile phones removed. The journalists included reporters from the New Yorker, El Pais, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and French and German press. At around 7pm Captain Sterling Vorus, a US citizen, was arrested for refusing the Guardia Civil permission to board. At no time was he warned that arrest would follow this action, OME said yesterday. The US Embassy in Madrid was contacted. "At this point we are awaiting word from the Spanish judge about the inspection. We had again invited Spanish officials to inspect the Explorer in advance of our departure and they chose not to take us up on it," Greg Stemm, Odyssey Co-Chairman and Co-founder told the Chroniclelast night. "We are sure that the Spanish Government is now well aware that the 'Black Swan' was not in Spanish waters and that the disposition of the coins is now subject to US Federal court jurisdiction, so we're not sure what the inspection of the Explorer is meant to accomplish," he said. Odyssey Explorer has been berthed at Gibraltar's British naval base since May under threat of arrest by Spain after 17 tonnes of silver coins worth an estimated $500m were flown out from Gibraltar, which OME said had been taken from an as yet unidentified wreck in the Atlantic codenamed 'Black Swan'.Spain believes the treasure could be Spanish and is engaged in a legal action against the treasure salvage company at the Admiralty Court in Tampa, Florida. In July the sister ship 'Ocean Alert'was arrested by the Spanish authorities and it was searched. Electronic items were seized from the ship and from the crew and two journalists Yesterday morning the 'Odyssey Explorer'left port at just after 9.30 am and was challenged by the Spanish authorities who had shadowed the vessels out of the demarcated British waters with a Spanish Navy corvette and a Civil Guard patrol vessel. Ali Nessar, the OME representative on board, speaking as the vessel sailed to the Spanish port of Algeciras under escort of the two Spanish ships and a Spanish Guardia Civil RIB, said that the rough seas had made it impossible for the authorities to board 'Odyssey Explorer'. Instead the vessel blocked their path and they were told that if they did not come voluntarily force would be used. The encounter at sea took place at 11am. "They kept repeating that they were following the orders of a judge and insisted that we were in Spanish territorial waters. We refused them permission to board and told them we were in international waters. We were told that force would be used if we did not comply and they then blocked our path with the warship," said Mr Nessar. In the event the weather was too rough for them to board and it was too dangerous, said Mr Nessar. "We were forced at gunpoint to come to Algeciras. They have weapons on board. They did not show them. The corvette blocked us and at the same time they threatened us that we must obey or they would use deadly force." When the vessel arrived at Algeciras there was a stand off for a couple of hours as the authorities were refused permission and Odyssey lawyers demanded the presence of the judge. But in the afternoon using a gangplank the Guardia Civil boarded and put all the persons on board to one side of the vessel before letting them off one by one for processing. It was only after considerable discussion that they agreed to allow engineers to stay on board for safety reasons. "Even the Captain was kicked off the ship" said Mr Nessar. Later the Spanish Opposition party PP welcomed the arrest of the vessel and its Culture spokesperson Beatriz Rodriguez expressed doubts about OME intentions. By Dominique Searle –The Gibraltar Chronicle