DATELINE :- 11th October 2000
TREASURE HUNTER LOSES RIGHTS
US court denies treasure-hunter in ruling on wrecks
A US federal court has ruled that a treasure-hunter must cede ownership rights over two wrecks and their contents to the government of their country of origin.
In a landmark decision with wide implications for treasure-hunting in US waters, Ben Benson, an American property speculator, was ruled to have no rights to salve the wrecks of two Spanish galleons, the Juno and La Galga, which he had located near Assateague Island, off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.
Rights, it was judged, resided in Madrid, repre-senting a success for the Spanish government, which had brought the case.
Defence lawyers for Benson's salvage company, Sea Hunt, argued that, by signing the Treaty of Paris with Britain in 1763 to end the Seven Years' War, Spain had ceded any claim to its possessions in North America.
But the judge sided with the British Embassy in Washington which, in support of the Spanish, stated in court that the treaty had applied to territory, not maritime wrecks.
Benson was ordered to stay away from the wrecks and to pass a small number of recovered artefacts to the Spanish government. No compensation order was issued to help alleviate the burden of a reported £1.3m invested by Benson in the project.
Sunk by a storm in 1802, the Juno had been carrying 23 tons of silver bullion. The La Galga went down in the same area 52 years earlier, also carrying a valuable cargo. Benson began researching and scanning for the Juno in 1996, after fishermen brought up an anchor with an attached pewter plate which, though corroded, seemed to be etched with the ship's name.
Last year, pieces of wreckage and coins thought to belong to both vessels were raised. The Spanish government responded fast in laying claim to the ships.
Internationally, improved underwater search and diving technology has increased the concerns of governments and some archaeologists about greater exploitation of commercially valuable wrecks.
"This is the first concrete result of Spain's stated desire to pursue its ownership rights to wrecks that sailed under the Spanish flag, wherever they lie," a maritime law expert told Diver.
"Spain is also claiming rights to a number of wrecks off Florida and South America." He said it was possible that it might eventually pursue rights to Armada ships wrecked around Britain.
"Britain is a signatory to the International Salvage Convention, which prevents salvors claiming awards to foreign warships sunk in British waters. That would strengthen the hand of another country which chose to lay claim to its flagged vessels sunk off Britain."
For wrecks in international waters, measures that could stop commercially motivated salvors working on them - at least until the sites are examined archaeologically - are already being debated by governments worldwide in the form of the UNESCO Draft Convention.