AROUND THE WORLD ...
Thursday 22nd February 2001
Spain claims rights to treasure on 250 wrecks off US shores
By Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid
SPAIN says it has been granted rights to more than 250 shipwrecks in waters off American coasts, including treasure galleons, after a historic ruling in the US Supreme Court.
The ruling closed a three-year legal battle between Spain and the state of Virginia which, with an American salvage company, had claimed rights over two Spanish vessels, La Galga and Juno, which sank in 1750 and 1802 respectively off Virginia and Maryland.
The Supreme Court rejected appeals from the salvage company, Sea Hunt, which was issued with salvage permits for the vessels by Virginia, and upheld an earlier ruling that the wrecks belong to Spain. Future salvage claims must be approved by the Spaniards.
The Spanish ambassador in Washington, Javier Ruperez, said yesterday the ruling affected Spain's claims to more than 250 Spanish vessels sunk off the coasts of America. The Madrid government would examine each wreck "case by case".
Tuesday 20th March 2001
Wreck of buccaneer's ship found off Ascension Island
By David Graves
DIVERS have discovered the wreck of Roebuck, the ship William Dampier used on his 17th-century expedition to Australia, New Guinea and New Britain, almost 300 years to the day after it sank in the Atlantic off Ascension Island.
The divers recovered a bronze Royal Navy bell, grappling hooks, anchors and a giant clam shell, which they believe was collected by the natural scientist and buccaneer as he explored the west coast of Australia in 1699. The Australian, British and American diving team, led by archaeologists from the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, is to spend several more days searching for more evidence of the wreck.
Roebuck foundered off Ascension Island in February 1701 while Dampier was attempting to return to Britain. The explorer and his crew made it to the island, where they were marooned for five weeks before being rescued by four other English ships. Dr Mike McCarthy, an archaeologist from the museum, said the badly corroded bell was inscribed with the broad arrow used by all Royal Navy ships.
The bell and the other relics were raised at the weekend with the help of British and American divers based on Ascension Island from 16ft of water off Clarence Bay. The bell was found by John Lashmar, an Australian diver, wedged between rocks. Dr McCarthy said the discovery was of "immense historical significance" for Australia because Dampier had discovered the archipelago named after him off the west coast of the country and Shark Bay, 620 miles north of Perth.
He said the ship's metalwork would have sunk to the seabed after the 300-ton ship sank. He thought that the Atlantic waters had been too turbulent for its timbers to settle. The finds from the wreck will remain in the formal possession of Geoffrey Fairhurst, the British administrator of Ascension Island, until it is decided where they should be taken for conservation.