Spain seizes treasure ship at gunpoint

A Spanish warship yesterday intercepted a US treasure-hunting vessel that it suspects took gold and silver worth an estimated $500 million from a sunken Spanish galleon, the US crew said yesterday.

The Spanish Navy corvette blocked the Odyssey Explorer after it left the British territory of Gibraltar and threatened to open fire when the captain refused to let police board. Police later arrested the boat's American captain, Sterling Vorus, a company official said.

The warship had escorted the boat, which belongs to US company Odyssey Marine Exploration, to the Spanish port of Algeciras so police could carry out a search.

"They threatened that we must obey or they would use deadly force," Ali Nessar, a company representative on the boat, told Reuters by phone.

"We were forced at gunpoint to come to Algeciras." The incident is the latest in a dispute dating back to May when Madrid said Odyssey's discovery of the treasure trove might have come from Spanish waters or from a Spanish galleon in international waters. In both cases Spain remains the rightful owner of the booty, the government says.

Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration has said it has legally discovered 17 tonnes of silver coins plus gold while working on a wreck code-named Black Swan at a secret location in the Atlantic Ocean.

It says the discovery was made outside of any country's territorial waters.

Spanish Civil Guard Police boarded the vessel once it docked in Algeciras, then escorted sailors off the vessel one by one before arresting the captain, Mr Nessar said.

Police allowed two engineers to stay aboard but seized cameras and mobile phone chips from crew and journalists travelling on the ship, Mr Nessar said.