A judge in Florida has ruled that the 500,000 coins recovered by treasure hunters Odyssey Marine in May 2007 belong to the ship Nuestra Señora de la Mercedes and must be returned to the Spanish government.
The Nuestra Señora de la Mercedes sank off the Algarve coast in 1804 after a battle with the English fleet. The ruling ends two years of disputes between Spain and Odyssey Marine.
Odyssey Marine discovered the wreck of the vessel and, under the code name Black Swan, began investigating and recovering the sunken cargo, some 500,000 coins with an estimated value of €400 million. The Spanish government, however, suspected that the wreck was a Spanish ship and began legal proceedings.
Odyssey Marine intend to appeal the ruling of the Florida court on the grounds that the ship was in commercial service at the time of sinking and that the treasure rightly belongs to the heirs of the 200 people who died on board.