Is Tampa's Odyssey Marine sitting on more treasure?

Odyssey Marine Exploration may be sitting on more sunken treasure than previously thought.
When the Tampa company announced last May that it had retrieved more than 500,000 coins from a wreck code-named "Black Swan," outsiders swiftly guessed that Odyssey had found the Merchant Royal, a British merchant ship that sank in 1641 with -- it is believed -- a substantial supply of coins aboard.
That conventional wisdom has changed, however. Today, many knowledgeable observers believe the "Black Swan" and the Merchant Royal are two different wrecks. The good news for Odyssey is that it may be in possession of both.
At a hearing in Tampa federal court Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo acknowledged speculation that a ship Odyssey found near the English Channel in 2006 may in fact be the Merchant Royal.
Company representatives were circumspect. Lawyer Allen von Spiegelfield told Pizzo that his clients lacked "conclusive" evidence about the 2006 ship's identity. And in an interview after the hearing, company co-founder Greg Stemm declined to rule out even the original suspicion -- that the wreck known as "Black Swan" is the Merchant Royal.
Perhaps the only thing beyond dispute at Wednesday's hearing was the continuing bitterness between Odyssey and the government of Spain, which believes it has a legitimate claim to both wrecks.
Spain's lawyer, James Goold, continued to question Odyssey's claim that it doesn't know the identity of either ship. He accused the company of withholding key information and suggested it was using the need to protect "trade secrets" as an excuse. Von Spiegelfield and Odyssey general counsel Melinda MacConnel said the company is holding nothing back and that it has a right to protect the wreck sites and its intellectual property.
After the hearing, co-founder Stemm said it could be years before the "Black Swan's" identity is confirmed. He said Odyssey still doesn't know the name of a shipwreck it found in the Dry Tortugas in 1989. But that's Spain's responsibility, he added.
"If no one has a convincing claim, Odyssey Marine, as salvor, wins," Stemm said.
- Scott Barancik, Times staff writer

Greg Stemm poses in front of the Odyssey Shipwreck & Treasure Attraction in New Orleans, in August 2005. [Chris Graythen, Special to the St. Petersburg Times]