Treasure Quest - Return (gold) To Sender

While not as good as the train wreck known as Whale Wars, I have been, admittedly, addicted to the reality TV show Treasure Quest… mostly after the amazingfind of the HMS Victory.

Anyway, some news for fans of the show:

A deep sea treasure-hunting company has been ordered by a US judge to hand over half a million gold and silver coins to the government of Spain.
The company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, raised the haul from a shipwreck in the Atlantic, suspected to be that of a Spanish naval vessel.
The Spanish government argued that the treasure formed part of the country’s national heritage.
But Odyssey intends to appeal, saying it has a claim to the treasure.
This is just the latest round of a long-running and sometimes murky dispute, says the BBC’s Steve Kingstone in Madrid.
The haul of coins - thought to be worth some $500m (£308m) - came to light in 2007, when Odyssey announced the recovery of artefacts from a wreck in the Atlantic.
It kept the location of the wreck secret, in what it said was an attempt to deter looters.
The haul was brought ashore in Gibraltar and quickly flown to Miami - enraging the Spanish government, our correspondent says, which says the wreck is that of the Mercedes, a naval frigate destroyed by the British in 1804.

The full story is HERE.