Hunt on for world's biggest underwater treasure in Spain By Sinikka Tarvainen

dpa German Press Agency Published: Wednesday March 28, 2007

By Sinikka Tarvainen,
Madrid- In February 1694, British admiral Francis Wheeler
set sail from the Bay of Gibraltar with an important mission.
He was to bring a large sum of money to the Duke of Savoy in order
to buy his loyalty and to ensure victory in Britain's ongoing war
against France's Sun King Louis XIV.

But when the HMS Sussex arrived in the Strait of Gibraltar, it was
hit by a violent storm, and Wheeler struggled in vain to save it.

The 50-metre warship went down with more than 500 men, 80 cannons
and an estimated 10 tons of gold coins on board.

Three centuries later, a US company specialized in underwater
treasure hunts intends to haul up what is believed to be the world's
richest sunken booty.

Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration has reached an agreement
with the British and Spanish governments to explore a wreck it
believes to be that of the Sussex at a depth of about 800 metres.

The value of the gold coins is estimated at up to 3.3 million
euros (4.4 billion dollars).

If the treasure is found, it will be split between the explorers
and the British government, the legal owner of the ship which once
sailed under its banner.

Not everyone is happy about the pioneering public-private deal,
with some archaeologists fearing that the involvement of commercial
companies could lead to a global scavenging of shipwrecks littering
the world's oceans.

Odyssey, however, says it is committed to protecting the
underwater cultural heritage and to developing a practical standard
for commercial and academic coordination on shipwreck recovery.

Odyssey had already done exploration work on the wreck thought to
be the Sussex, but was ordered to interrupt it in 2006 over Spanish
fears that it was not respecting the conditions set by Madrid.

Archaeologists appointed by the Andalusian regional authorities
will now participate in the operation, and the central government
also pledged to keep a watchful eye over it to prevent any
archaeological "pillaging" on Spanish territory.

It is actually unclear whether the wreck is in Spanish waters, but
Madrid wants to make the rules clear in view of possible explorations
of Spanish wrecks later on.

Spain is believed to be one of the world's richest underwater
treasure houses. More than 700 wrecks dating from the 16th to the
19th
centuries are estimated to lie in its waters, many of them
possibly loaded with gold and silver plundered in Latin America.

"There is more gold in the Gulf of Cadiz than in the Spanish
national bank," archaeology professor Manuel Martin Bueno said.

There is also the possibility that the wreck located by Odyssey is
not the Sussex, but a Spanish galleon, another reason why Madrid
wants to keep its explorers under control.

Odyssey Marine Exploration scanned about 1,000 square kilometres
of sea bottom with sonars in its search for the Sussex.

It located 418 wrecks and other targets, only one of which
contained cannon. It was positioned near to where the Sussex
reportedly foundered.

The site is too deep for divers, but Odyssey intended to use
search and recovery vessels, side scan sonar equipment and robots,
the company told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Odyssey has formerly found several treasures, including gold coins
and artifacts worth 75 million dollars off the US coast in 2003.

The length of the new exploration depends on many factors and
cannot yet be determined, company sources said.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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