Word: goold
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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That may be why Odyssey is hedging its bets this time around. In a press release, the company notes that the U.K. would retain the right to maintain intact any collection of artifacts, and may compensate the finders not with actual booty, but with payment for their value. James Goold, the attorney representing the Spanish government, finds the change interesting. "From my point of view, Odyssey is admitting what it knew all along but ignored in the case of Spain, which is that it can't claim sovereignty over a sovereign nation's possessions. Maybe they've learned a lesson...
...mystery is over," said James Goold, the lawyer representing the Spanish government, at a Madrid press conference on Thursday. "Odyssey stripped the gravesite of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes." Although Odyssey representatives said they had sought to keep the shipwreck's exact location secret out of concern for the site's security, in January, the court ordered the American company to reveal its findings to Spain. That information, coupled with the government's own investigations, enabled Madrid to assert today that the sunken ship - and the trove of silver treasure it contained - rightfully belong to the Spanish state...
...according to the Spanish, both the wreck's location and the booty recovered from it clearly point to the Mercedes. "We have been able to pinpoint Odyssey's operations in international waters, and confirm that they were working where the Battle of Cape Saint Mary occurred," says Goold, referring to the 1804 battle in which a British warship fired upon the Mercedes and blew it up. "The artifacts that remain are spilled in a way consistent with an explosion. There's only one ship that fits that description." Stemm contests Goold's conclusion. "He is either trying to twist...
...depiction also makes for good p.r. "People have this idea of treasure hunters as glamorous," says Goold. "But if it involves going down to a gravesite and taking someone's wedding ring, it's a different kind of thing...
...Spain, however, considers the ruling an unequivocal victory. "We're very pleased the court ruled in our favor," says James Goold, the attorney representing the Spanish government. "It shows that the court recognizes the need to move quickly to establish the identity of the ship." Perhaps more important, in his view, it also bodes well for the trial to come. "With this decision, we see that the court respects the cultural patrimony of a country like Spain...