Largest Shipwreck Treasure Find Ever - VOA Story

An American company is in the process of determining the value of a haul of sunken treasure, thought to be the biggest ever discovered. Odyssey Marine Exploration says it is examining more than half-a-million coins from the shipwreck as part of a find that could net it around half a billion dollars. The bounty has sparked public interest in the controversial business of treasure hunting vy Odyssey Marine Exploration."Black Swan is the code-name of a secret operation off the coast of Europe which may have discovered the biggest haul of shipwreck treasure ever found.Odyssey won't reveal the identity of the ship, or even when it sank, to avoid giving clues to other treasure hunters. Odyssey will only say it went down in international waters.In the crates are 17 tons of silver and gold coins and other valuables arriving in the U.S., destined for a secret location.Mark Gordon, from Odyssey Marine Exploration, says an expert in 17th century coins estimated the value of the haul. "He looked at a representative sample of the coins and in amongst the group that he saw he was able to determine that there were values ranging from $400 to $4,000 for individual coins, and the mean value of the group that he looked at was about $1,000," says Gordon.Those crates could hold about half a billion dollars. In the U.S., a big media splash about the "Black Swan" hoard has triggered a new fascination in pirate ships and treasure.Odyssey estimates there are some three million shipwrecks worldwide. The company combs the seabed using a special underwater vessel: operating it costs $35,000 a day.If treasure is found, the company determines if anyone may have a claim to it -- unlikely in the case of a pirate-ship -- then petitions a U.S. court to get ownership.Odyssey is the only publicly traded treasure-hunting company in the U.S., but the business is unpredictable. It reported a net loss of $3.8 million in the first quarter of 2007.Critics, such as the Institute of Field Archaeologists, accuse private companies like Odyssey of "ransacking" shipwrecks for profit. And Odyssey is in a legal wrangle with the Spanish government over the Black Swan treasure. Spain says it might be one of their galleons that went down in its territorial waters.But Odyssey says it will press on with its work - and has even teamed up with the Walt Disney Corporation to cater to the public appetite for sunken treasure.

Canal: News & Politics
Añadido: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Autor: MyEarbot

Duración: 03:37
Puntuación: 4.59
Reproducciones: 31515

Etiquetas: Black  bounty  Exploration  Marine  Odyssey  sea  Shipwreck  Swan  treasure  

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