The Battle for Booty – Peru vs. Spain
In 2007, when the Odyssey Exploration of Tampa found a wrecked colonial ship off west of the Strait of Gibraltar, it was unknown what kind of legal battle 
would ensue. What the Odyssey found was silver and gold doubloons, worth an estimated value of $500 million, whose ore was mined in Lima; Popayan, Columbia; Santiago, Chile; and Potasi, all located in South America.
Last September a three member US Court ruled that the Nuestra Senora de Las Mercedes, the colonial ship holding the coins, was the property of Spain, since the region the ore was mined at the time of the incident was controlled by Spain. That ruling is highly contested with many Peruvians, and the Odyssey. The Peruvians think that because their ancestor’s hard work, sweat and sacrifice were used to mine the ore that it is property of their country. Their argument is that even though they were not and independent country at the time, they did not gain independence until 1821 and the ship is believed to have sank in 1804, Spain forced the workers to mine and were genocidal towards their people so this should be retribution.
Others wanting a slice of the pie are ancestors of the merchants who had some connection to the ship. They claim Spain forced their ancestors to pay a tax on the silver and gold and never received their cargo; therefore the precious metals are theirs.
While the Odyssey and Peru filed appeals at the US Supreme court, this battle seems like it could drag on for a while. The bitterness and resentment between the two sides is holding the two apart. Some Spanish scholars feel that some of the coins should be displayed in their country of origin, but only as a loan. A lot of the Peruvians with a connection or interest in this matter feel robbed by a country that not only robbed them before, but also ruled them.
More Reading - http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/03/13/peruvians-feel-robbed-over-decision-to-give-treasure-to-spain/
Photo from Wikimedia of Francis Sartorius’ Four frigates capturing Spanish treasure ships, 5 October 1804 at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Greenwich Hospital Collection
Learn About More Spanish Shipwrecks From the Video Below
For the First Time the Full Titanic Wreck Site is Mapped
Full Titanic wreck site is mapped for 1st time
Researchers have pieced together what’s believed to be the first comprehensive map of the entire 3-by-5-mile Titanic debris field and hope it will provide new clues about what exactly happened the night 100 years ago when the superliner hit an iceberg, plunged to the bottom of the North Atlantic and became a legend.
Marks on the muddy ocean bottom suggest, for instance, that the stern rotated like a helicopter blade as the ship sank, rather than plunging straight down, researchers told The Associated Press this week.
Read the rest of the article at Full Titanic wreck site is mapped for 1st time | ajc.com.
Story by Clarke Canfield – Associated Press
Explorers raise hope of Nelson ‘treasure trove’ on Victorian shipwreck
Lord Nelson is one of the most famous officers of the Royal Navy. Nelson participated in battles in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson was fatally wounded during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Jasper Copping of the Telegraph reports on the discovery of Lord Nelson artefacts in the Mediterranean.
He is Britain’s most celebrated naval hero and his statue in Trafalgar Square shows him with his trusty sword in his hand.
Now, an explorer believes he has found Lord Nelson’s weapon on the wreck of a British warship 500 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean.
The diver thinks the sword is amongst a haul of artefacts linked to the admiral which was on board HMS Victoria when it sank in 1893.
The vessel was lost, along with 358 sailors, after a disastrous blunder by Vice Admiral George Tryon led to it colliding with another British warship as they were preparing to anchor during peacetime manoeuvres off the coast of Lebanon.
The vice admiral was a great admirer of Nelson, who had died 88 years earlier, and was rumoured to have had on board with him a collection of his hero’s personal effects, which he was reported to have bought at auction.
Read more of the article at Explorers raise hope of Nelson ‘treasure trove’ on Victorian shipwreck – Telegraph
Posted in History News | 
Battle of Trafalgar, Britain, Lord Nelson, Mediterranean, Royal Navy, Shipwreck | 
Five shipwrecks found in central Stockholm
Five shipwrecks have ben recently discovered in an area of Stockholm that was used as a naval shipyard until the beginning of the 17th century. This was the same shipyard where the famous Swedish warship, the Vasa was built. The Local reports on these new findings.
“I’ve never before come across so many well-preserved artifacts,” Jim Hansson, project leader for the museum’s dig, said in
a statement, citing rigging, tools, hand-blown glass, and coins among the items found at the site.
“It’s going to be exciting as we move forward, but also a challenge to carry out this sort of examination in the winter time.”
According to the museum, the five wrecks date from the 1500s to 1700s and were unearthed in connection with renovations being carried out on Strömkajen near Stockholm’s historic Grand Hotel, a popular destination for tourists visiting the Swedish capital.
“The discoveries shed light on the naval shipyard where among others the royal warship Vasa was built and on various periods of the city’s history,” the museum said.
Read the rest of the story at Five shipwrecks found in central Stockholm – The Local.
Britain’s own Pearl Harbour: The Japanese ambush that left the Navy’s finest ships at the bottom of the sea and 800 men dead
The HMS Prince of Wales was one of the most technologically advanced ships in the British fleet in 1941. It was the ship that transported Winston Churchill to Newfoundland for the Newfoundland Conference with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, where the Atlantic Charter was created. At the end of October 1941, the HMS Prince of Wales departed for the Pacific to join the British naval detachment Force Z. On December 10th, Japanese bombers and torpedo aircraft attacked and sunk the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse. Tony Rennel of the Daily Mail writes about the stories recounted by some of the survivors.
Today [December 10th], Maurice Pink will bow his head and remember exactly where he was 70 years ago — naked in the middle of the ocean, covered in thick oil and treading water to stay afloat
because he’d had to jump from his sinking warship without a life jacket.
Aged 89, he will be at the final reunion of the survivors of one of the Royal Navy’s biggest disasters.
In 1941, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales, the newest and most technologically advanced ship in the fleet, was sunk by Japanese torpedo planes off the coast of Malaya, along with the battle cruiser HMS Repulse.
The war against Japan was just three days old, the hulks of the U.S. ships still burning at Pearl Harbour after the sneak attack on December 8 that had begun hostilities. Now the pride of the Royal Navy was at the bottom of the sea.
In London, Prime Minister Winston Churchill was woken to be told the news.
‘In all the war I never received a more direct shock,’ he later recalled.
Read the rest of the article at Britain’s own Pearl Harbour: The Japanese ambush that left the Navy’s finest ships at the bottom of the sea and 800 men dead | Mail Online.
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