Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes The sinking of the Mercedes
|Name:||Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes| |Launched:||Havana,
Cuba, 1786| |Fate:||Sunk by the British 5 October 1804|
|Notes:||Thought to be the wreck discovered by Odyssey Marine
Exploration, codenamed "Black Swan"| The Nuestra Señora de las
Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy in English) was a Spanish frigate
which was sunk by the British off the south coast of Portugal on
5 October 1804 during the Battle of Cape Santa Maria. Odyssey
Marine Exploration claim to have discovered the vessel and
recovered its treasure in 2007 resulting in a legal challenge
from Spain. Odyssey claim to have recovered "over 500,000 silver
coins weighing more than 17 short tons (15 t), hundreds of gold
coins, worked gold, and other artifacts, it is believed that
this recovery constitutes the largest collection of coins ever
excavated (actually ruled as an expoliation) from a deep-ocean
site." A U.S. federal court and a panel from the United States
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh C