> > Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:23:04 +0100 (BST) > From: Ignatius Fernandes <igg...@yahoo.co.uk> > To: "goa...@goanet.org" <goa...@goanet.org> > Subject: [Goanet] The SS Gairsoppa > > > Thank you Roland Francis for whetting my appetite about > > the SS.Gairsoppa and it's treasure of silver found at the > > bottom of the sea.. > > Apparently the finders get 80% of the treasure trove and the rest > > to the owners. Since the silver was looted from the maharajahs > > by the British, should not either the Government of India or the > > individual maharajahs make a claim. > > I very much doubt that Britain would part with anything they > > would hold on to it for dear life. Good example are the Elgin > Marbles and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. > Regards > Ignatius Fernandes. > > > ------------------------------
Actually there might be a finder, but it was the British government which tendered for the recovery of the SS Gairsoppa, and the American Odyssey Marine Exploration company won the contract. They indeed will keep 80% of the proceeds. Odyssey Marine Exploration may look like an adventurous venture (it is), but it's very much a for profit professional enterprise which lost 33% of its share-worth a short while ago, when a court ruled that the 15.000 kg of silver coins they had recovered from a sunken galleon off the Gilbraltar coast rightly belonged to the Spanish government. When news of the SS Gairsoppa became known, their shares bounced back - but just 12% (you do the figures ;-) Cheers, p+3D!
