The search for sunken ships and underwater treasure is a standard plot line in Hollywood movies. In real life, the most successful treasure hunters aren’t a band of rough adventurers but companies, sometimes publicly traded, with smooth-talking CEOs.
One such company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, is led by CEO Gregg Stemm, an individual who has earned notoriety in the underwater archaeological community by aggressively exploiting, some would say destroying, shipwrecks.
Odyssey is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with the Spanish government over ownership of a sunken ship located some 180 miles west of Portugal in international waters. The discovery became public in May 2007 when Odyssey removed tons of coins from the wreck site to Florida.
Spain’s basic claim is that any ship flying the national flag belongs to the state and only the state has the right to recover the wreckage. The ship’s identity has not been established but it may be Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish ship blown up in 1804 by the British.
On June 4, 2009 a judge in Florida ruled that the U.S. lacks jurisdiction over the case and the property should be returned to Spain. On this news, Bloomberg.com reported that Odyssey’s share price fell 43%.
Marine recovery is a challenging and expensive. Treasure hunters and salvagers aren’t just after any ships, though, they’re often after historical ships known to carry valuable cargo—archaeological artifacts and human remains whose recovery is a boon to scholars seeking to understand such ships, the people who sailed them, and the history of the seafaring.
Sometimes such ships, like the Tang Dynasty wreck featured in the June issue of National Geographic, are discovered by accident, only later to be salvaged for treasure and sold. Like all good science, underwater archaeology is slow, painstaking work in the field followed by years of conversation and study in the lab. In this sense, the exploitation of ships like the Mercedes and the Tang Dynasty wreck for profit is incompatible with their long term study and management as cultural heritage.
Odyssey's struggle with Spain may very well continue. In the meantime, the treasure hunting and site destruction continues as well. National Geographic's audience should learn more about the need to protect underwater cultural heritage.
You can start by downloading a copy of UNESCO’s colorful and informative brochure. Read it and let us know if it changes your mind about underwater archaeology, salvaging, or treasure hunting.