page_title: Black Swan Project
section_title: Conclusion
hierarchical_section_title: Black Swan Project / Conclusion
caption_attribution_description: Español: Monedas encontradas en los restos de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes.
context_page_description: The Black Swan Project is the project name given by Odyssey Marine Exploration for its discovery and recovery of an estimated US$500 million worth of silver and gold coins from the ocean floor. Initially Odyssey kept the origin of the treasure confidential. It was later proved in trial that the recovered cargo was being carried by the Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, which sank off Portugal in 1804.
  Knowledge of the recovery became public on May 18, 2007 when the company flew 17 tons of coins, mostly silver, from Gibraltar to a secure location of unknown address in Florida, USA. The company did not release the type, date, or nationality of the coins, while a rumor attributed it to the Merchant Royal, which sank near Land's End in 1641. At the time, Odyssey said that it planned to return to the site to perform an excavation expected to uncover more coins as well as other artifacts. However, Odyssey was sued by the Spanish government in U.S. courts, which eventually ordered the treasure to be returned to Spain. Odyssey pursued all legal avenues, even taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and losing.
context_section_description: On February 17, 2012, it was reported that U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo ordered Odyssey to return the coins to Spain by February 24, 2012, where they will be dispersed to museums, not to heirs. The Supreme Court declined to stay this order and Odyssey will abide by the decision. On February 24, 2012, two C-130 Hercules aircraft from the Spanish Air Force picked up the treasure in Florida and transported it to Spain. Odyssey petitioned the Supreme Court to reconsider the issues in the case but on May 14, 2012, the court declined to take up the appeal. The coins have been returned to Spain, whereby Spanish law dictates that they can never be sold to the Public.
  On December 2, 2012 the Spanish Government deposited the 14.5 tons of gold and silver coins recovered in the National Museum of Subaquatic Archaeology in Cartagena (Murcia) for cataloging, study and permanent display.
  In 2015 a U.S. district court ordered Odyssey to pay Spain $1 million for "bad faith and abusive litigation". The judge observed that, throughout the lawsuit, "Odyssey knew at all times that Spain, given the information pertinent to identification, possessed the historical information and the expertise to identify immediately whether the wreck in question was a Spanish vessel" and that "the fact that Odyssey never asked for Spain's assistance in identifying the vessel reveals much about Odyssey's motives and objectives."
  Since 2014, part of the treasure has been on display in several Spanish public museums as part of an extensive itinerant exhibit relating to the sinking of the ship, and the recovery of the treasure.
  On August 30, 2017, as a follow up to the project, the Spanish Navy rescued two cannons, named "Santa Barbara" and "Santa Rufina", each weighing more than 2 tons. They had been cast in bronze and signed by smelter Bernardino de Tejeda (Seville, Spain - Lima, Peru). His sepulchral crypt, which he had built in 1596, can be found at the catacombs located inside the Minor Basilica and Convent of San Agustin in the Old Lima sector. It was renovated in 1942 by Tejeda's direct Peruvian descendants, the then future Ambassadors Carlos Pérez Cánepa Jimenez (Lima 1918-85) and Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, (Lima 1920-)
  A fictionalised comic book based on the project, The Treasure of the Black Swan, written by a Spanish diplomat involved in the legal battle, Guillermo Corral, and Spanish graphic novelist Paco Roca was produced in 2018.
caption: Sample of coins from the Mercedes treasure displayed at a Spanish museum in 2015.
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