Court: Spain gets back 17 tons of galleon silver

TAMPA, Fla.?? An appeals court said Wednesday that 17 tons of silver coins that Tampa-based deep-sea explorers found in a sunken Spanish galleon must go back to Spain.

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A three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta affirmed a lower court's decision that Odyssey Marine Exploration must return the treasure, The Associated Press reported.

Odyssey found the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes off the Portuguese coast in 2007. Spain had argued that it never surrendered ownership of the sunken ship and its contents. Odyssey claimed "finders keepers" and asked the court to award it most of the treasure.

British warships sank the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes in the Atlantic in 1804.

The company said it would ask the whole court to reconsider, the AP reported.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44615796/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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