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Monday, September 21, 2009

Odyssey Marine Reaches Settlement With U.K.

By Joanna Ossinger

FOXBusiness

Odyssey Marine Exploration (OMEX) shares were off Monday after the company had announced on Friday that it reached an agreement with the U.K. government related to the salvage of some items from a shipwreck.

The U.K. government is going to pay Odyssey a salvage award of 80% for the artifacts that have been recovered from the wreck site of Admiral Balchin’s HMS Victory, a 100-gun ship lost in 1744 in the English Channel.

Two cannons have been recovered from the site and valued at $200,000 total, bringing Odyssey Marine’s award to $160,000. However, the company said it would contribute $75,000 of that award “to provide support to the National Museum of the Royal Navy to assist in realizing the historical, educational and cultural opportunities that the discovery of this important shipwreck offers to the public,” according to a company statement quoting CEO Greg Stemm.

“As the shipwreck has been positively identified as HMS Victory, a UK Royal Naval Vessel, we recognize the UK Government’s position is that the vessel has not been abandoned and therefore the shipwrecked vessel, its appurtenances and necessaries, and the personal effects of the officers and crew, are the property of Her Majesty’s Government,” said Melinda MacConnell, Odyssey vice president and general counsel, in the same statement. “As such, in good faith, we have agreed to conduct any further activities relating to the shipwreck under the jurisdiction of applicable UK laws.”

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