Black Swan Project

The Black Swan Project was the name of a commercial treasure hunting project of the U.S. (listed) company Odyssey Marine Exploration, based in Florida, United States.

It had the goal of the cargo - to find the sunken in 1641 British merchant ship Merchant Royal - gold and silver coins. It fell under Captain John Limbrey on September 23, 1641 during a storm on the way from Cadiz to Antwerp south of Cornwall. The present value of the cargo is estimated at 500 million U.S. dollars.

According to the company, a wreck was found off the coast of Cornwall at Land's End ( UK ) 2007. However, the actual location remained secret. 500,000 coins were recovered, which were spent at the company headquarters to Florida. If the estimates are correct, this is the greatest treasure trove of history. The discovery of coins from the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha in 1985 had a value of 400 million U.S. dollars.

Objections of the Spanish Government

The Spanish Government was, however property claims and sought an action. According to the Spanish government of the treasure comes from a discovery off the coast of Portugal. The Spanish government assumes that it concerns the 1804 decline in Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, where upscale treasure came from.

2009 has been sentenced by a U.S. court for the surrender of the treasure to Spain Odyssey Marine Exploration. Subsequently, the company has lodged an appeal over which an appellate court has ruled unfavorably 2011. An application of the company over the freezing of the judgment up to a possible decision by the Supreme Court was January 31, 2012 also rejected.

The Sweetheart of two transport aircraft of the Spanish Air Force was flown to Madrid on February 25, 2012 and will be distributed to several museums and collections.