U.S. Ship seized in fight over treasure

Spain has again seized an American treasure-hunting ship over a dispute with its owners over who has rights to millions of dollars worth of booty recovered from the sea, officials said.

Spain seized the Odyssey Explorer - owned by Odyssey Marine Exploration based Tampa, Fla.- as it sailed out of port in the British colony of Gibraltar on Tuesday. Armed Spanish government vessels were waiting for the Explorer when it reached 4 miles off Gibraltar's shore and entered what Spain considers its territorial waters. But the Explorer's captain, Sterling Vorus, told the Spaniards that the ship is in international waters, Odyssey owner Greg Stemm said. The Spanish vessels forced the Explorer to dock at Spain's nearby port of Algeciras. Spain ‘intercepted and seized’ the Explorer on Tuesday under a court order on ‘suspicion that Odyssey, through its ships, is recovering Spanish maritime heritage, in Spanish waters, without authorization,’ the spokesman said. It was the second time in four months that Spain had seized an Odyssey vessel as it sailed off of Gibraltar.

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