April 20, 2024
SHARE:
Odyssey Marine Exploration
Treasure, Interrupted for Odyssey Marine
The country's largest publicly traded shipwreck exploration company has three promising finds but faces hurdles in opening the treasure chests.
Mike Vogel | 10/1/2008
 A porthole window (above) and a collection of bottles (below) recovered from the SS Republic  |
Goold counters that the treasure hunters in the Virginia case got nothing. “Such is the risk of treasure salvage,” Goold says. Risk, indeed. The British sailors who hoped for all of the spoils from the Battle of Cape St. Mary 204 years ago ended up disappointed — they lost out on a technicality of admiralty law.
  Three finds in 18 months isn’t just luck, says Odyssey President Mark Gordon. Rather, Odyssey is benefiting from new technology and better utilization of its ships. It has eliminated, albeit through expensive searching, thousands of miles of seabed, narrowing the field of where valuable wrecks can be. “We’re able to search more ocean more quickly and more efficiently.” Above is Odyssey’s seven-ton “Zeus.” |
