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MADRID (AFP) - US treasure hunters have denied allegations that 17 tons of silver and gold hauled from the Atlantic came from a Spanish galleon sunk by British warships in 1804.
A lawyer for the Spanish government, James Goold, told a Madrid news conference "there is multiple evidence" that the disputed treasure came from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, whose sinking off the Algarve led Spain to declare war on Britain and re-enter the Napoleonic Wars.
Coins, ship fittings and other material taken from the shipwreck have been documented to have been on the the Mercedes while the location of the find also indicates according to several sources that it came from the galleon, he said.
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A lawyer for the Spanish government, James Goold, told a Madrid news conference "there is multiple evidence" that the disputed treasure came from the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, whose sinking off the Algarve led Spain to declare war on Britain and re-enter the Napoleonic Wars.
Coins, ship fittings and other material taken from the shipwreck have been documented to have been on the the Mercedes while the location of the find also indicates according to several sources that it came from the galleon, he said.
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