The "Black Swan" Case: Spain's Battle To Reclaim the Treasure of the Frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes

You are invited to join James A. Goold, lead attorney and James P. Delgado, maritime archaeologist, as they describe their work on the famous landmark legal case concerning more than half a million silver coins recovered from a deep water site off the coast of Portugal by a commercial salvage firm, Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Odyssey characterized the find as recovering a large amount of silver that had been dumped at sea, while Spanish authorities suspected the coins came from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish naval frigate lost in combat with British naval forces during the Napoleonic Wars.  In a protracted international legal battle, Spain's position prevailed, as Odyssey had indeed encountered more than coins, and that "smoking gun" evidence of the lost ship and its crew were present on the sea floor and in what had been recovered.  The case revolved not only around the issue of the identity of the mystery shipwreck, but also the legal status of warships, questions of public and private treasure carried aboard the ship, and intervention in the case by the government of Peru, asserting the silver had come from colonial Spanish territory that is now Peru, and descendants of Spanish merchant families who had shipped coins on the lost vessel.

About Mr. Goold
James A. Goold is lead counsel on admiralty matters at Covington and Burling LLP's Washington Office, and was lead attorney in the "Black Swan" case for Spain.

About Dr. Delgado
James Delgado is currently the Director of NOAA's Maritime Heritage Program in the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.  He was the pro bono archaeologist for the "Black Swan" case while previously serving as the President of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, a non-profit NGO.

This program is open to DOC staff and their guests. 

Accessibility: This program will be physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other accommodations should be directed to the Commerce Research Library.