TAMPA - A local company that searches the world's oceans for valuable shipwrecks says it has found not one, but two, intriguing wrecks off the Atlantic coast of North Florida.
The company says gold coins could be buried with one of the ships. And on the other vessel, Chinese and British pottery has been found, some of which has been brought to Tampa.
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. went to U.S. District Court in Tampa on Monday to seek the exclusive rights to excavate the underwater sites. That step keeps other parties from searching the sites and should give Odyssey ownership of the contents.
``Our plan is to begin recovery during this summer,'' said John Morris, Odyssey president and chief executive officer. ``If we're successful, this would generate the first significant revenue for the company.''
The small, publicly traded Tampa company has relied on backing from investors, Morris said. It is on the verge of a high-profile excavation of the British HMS Sussex, discovered in 2001 off the coast of Spain.
On Monday, Odyssey said it might have found a ship, code-named the Bavaria Project, that it has been hunting for at least a year. The company won't explain why it chose that name. The 19th century steamship sank with ``a large cargo of coins.''
Odyssey must examine the wreckage more closely to determine whether it is the Bavaria Project, said Greg Stemm, co- founder of the company. The company won't pinpoint the site for competitive reasons.
There's also no estimate of how much money might be in the wreckage.
Morris said a search can cost millions , so the company pursues only sites that are likely to yield big paybacks. It has to consider the value of the cargo, the costs of recovery and the likelihood that other parties, such as insurance companies, could stake an ownership claim.
Side Benefit
As it searched 1,000 square miles for the Bavaria, Odyssey happened upon another bounty, the ship with the British and Chinese pottery, spokeswoman Laura Lionetti Barton said. Using robotic equipment and a research vessel, Odyssey staff members got clear video of pitchers and vases lodged in the seabed a quarter-mile underwater. They brought some items to the surface for research.
Because the pottery might have cultural and monetary value, Odyssey has claimed the legal exploration rights to that ship, too, and is calling it the ``Blue China'' wreck.
Sturdy Stuff
The company's research suggests the Blue China sank between 1775 and 1825. Odyssey workers have found English pottery as well as blue and white Chinese export porcelain.
Pieces found include platters, bowls, drinking glasses, jars and heavy glass bottles, possibly made to contain liquor. The company has been calling experts at American and European museums and auction houses to help date and identify the findings.
The name and fate of the Blue China is a mystery. Odyssey officials say it could have been a small trading ship because it was common for vessels of that type to be used on routes from Canada or New England to the Caribbean or Central America.
``We often find other shipwrecks during our searches,'' said Stemm, the company's director of operations . But they're often not as interesting as the Blue China wreck, he said.
During Odyssey's search for the British HMS Sussex, the company discovered shipwrecks dating back more than 2,000 years, Stemm said.
The Sussex went down in a storm off the southern coast of Spain near Gibraltar in 1694. The warship was stocked with gold and silver coins that England was sending as a political payoff to a Spanish ally during a conflict with France.
The money never was recovered. But Odyssey discovered the ship through intensive research and has signed an agreement with the British government to excavate the site and share the profits, which could be in the billions of dollars. The excavation work starts this summer.
This means Odyssey, with 10 regular full-time staff members, is juggling three ship excavations. Excavations can take months and are subject to weather conditions and availability of equipment .
But Stemm said the company is up to the challenge. ``We have been planning this for a long time. I'm confident that we have the technology and team that can pull it off.''
Reprinted with permission.
Copyright© 2003 The Tampa Tribune