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Three ships
doc. JUDr. Pavel Salák jr., Ph.D.
Katedra dějin státu a práva PrF MU

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Three ships – three stories
Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes Franken,
HMAS Perth

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Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes
(Our Lady of Mercy in English, a title of the Virgin Mary)
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Four frigates capturing Spanish treasure ships (5.October 1804) by Francis Sartorius, National
Maritime Museum, UK

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Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes Black Swan project
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/Monedas%2C_Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_de_las_Mer
cedes%2C_Sevilla%2C_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_2015_03.JPG/220px-Monedas%2C_Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_de_las_Mercedes
%2C_Sevilla%2C_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_2015_03.JPG
Was a Spanish Navy frigate which was sunk by the British off the south coast of Portugal on 5
October 1804 during the Battle of Cape Santa Maria.
At the time of the naval action Spain and England were at peace with each other.
A single shot from HMS Amphion, commanded by Samuel Sutton, hit the ship's magazine, causing an
explosion that sank the ship.
250 Spanish crewmen were lost, and 51 survivors were rescued from the sea and taken as prisoner.
The other three vessels were interned in Britain. Her wreck has been compared with that of USS
Arizona at Pearl Harbor
The Spanish frigate was part of a small flotilla sailing from Montevideo (Uruguay) to
Cadiz(Andalusia, Spain), transporting silver, gold, vicuna, cinnamon and quinoa.

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Black Swan project
nThe Black Swan Project is the project name given by Odyssey Marine Exploration for its discovery
and recovery of an estimated US$500 million (£314 million) worth of silver and gold coins from the
ocean floor. Initially Odyssey kept the origin of the treasure confidential.
nKnowledge 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.
nSalvage law in international waters - could award 90% of recovered treasure to the salvage firm x
Spain claimed the entire ownership of the wreck and cargo, saying that it would pay no salvage
award at all for the recovery because the cargo of the Mercedes would be protected by sovereign
immunity, which supersedes admiralty law
nOdyssey 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. On February 27, 2012 the ship's treasure was flown back to Spain where
the coins and other artifacts from the shipwreck are now exhibited in public museums. In 2015 a
U.S. district court ordered Odyssey to pay Spain $1 million for "bad faith and abusive litigation.
nThe Court's decision rested mainly on its interpretation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
(FSIA) and on the principle of comity. It said, "We do not hold the recovered [treasure] is
ultimately Spanish property. Rather, we merely hold the sovereign immunity owed the shipwreck of
the Mercedes also applies to any cargo the Mercedes was carrying when it sank.“
n
n
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Case Franken
nGerman tanker used during WW2
n
nSunk on 8th April 1945 near Danzig (Gdansk, Poland) by Soviet submarine
nCargo: cca 10.000 tons of petrol (60% still there – cca 3136 m³ petrol)
n
nGerman ship sunk by a soviet submarine in (today) Polish teritorial water is – POLISH PROBLEM
n
nGerman position „we can help you but through EU not as Germany, we deny any responsibility – it
could be dangerous precedent
n
nNairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks 2007 x few signatories
n
n
n
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HMAS Perth – light cruiser
nHMAS Perth (I) was one of three Leander class light cruisers commissioned into the Royal
Australian Navy (RAN) in 1939
nFollowing the capture of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Perth was ordered to join the American,
British, Dutch and Australian (ABDA)
nABDA was formed in an attempt to block an anticipated Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies
(Indonesia)
n Fleet - two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, 14 destroyers and 10 transports. X the ABDA force
was hampered by language differences, communication problems and a lack of air support
nOn 27 February 1942  - Battle in Java sea – 7hours battle - Perth and Houston were the only two
large Allied ships to survive the battle
nAt around 2300 on 28 February 1942, Perth and HoustAfter three more torpedo strikes, the cruiser
heeled over to port and sank around 00.25 on 1 March 1942 with the loss of 353 crewon encountered a
second Japanese invasion fleet
n
n
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Discovered…
nIn 1967, Perth’s wreck site was discovered by Australian diver David Godwin Burchell about three
nautical miles (4.8 kilometres) north-east of St Nicholas Point. In his book The Bells of Sunda
Strait, Burchell reported that Perth lay almost intact – except for shell and torpedo damage – on
its port side on a relatively flat sandy bottom in about 35 metres of water
nWorking with members of the Indonesian Navy, and with the permission of both the Australian and
Indonesian Governments, Burchell recovered a number of items from Perth -  Additional salvage work,
including removal of all of Perth’s 4-inch guns, some of the bridge structure, and at least two of
the cruiser’s four phosphor-bronze propellers, occurred in the early 1970s. The ship’s bell was
also recovered around the same time and presented to the Australian War Memorial in 1974
nWith the advent of scuba diving and cheaper international airfares, Perth and Houston became
popular technical diving attractions. In late 2013 recreational divers notified the Australian
government that Perth was being salvaged by commercial divers. (Most of the cruiser’s
superstructure had been removed, along with both forward 6-inch gun turrets, the amphibious
aircraft catapult, portside crane and forward deck)
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And then…
nThe story was immediately picked up by national and international media, and many people –
including those whose family members died on the cruiser – were dismayed to learn that Perth was
not protected under heritage legislation. Further, because Perth was a shipwreck, it was not
considered an official ‘war grave’.
n
nSince 2015, Perth’s internal compartments have been systematically salvaged, and its bulkheads,
decks and internal fittings removed.
n
nWhile Perth has been extensively damaged, there is some good news. Since the survey concluded, we
have written a technical report of investigations that illustrates the threat posed to this
significant historical and archaeological site. ARKENAS has proposed that the site be declared a
Situs Cagar Budaya (Cultural Heritage Site) under Indonesian cultural heritage legislation, while
the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries also intends to list the site as a Marine Conservation
Zone.
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No comment necessary…
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An estimated 3,000 tonnes of metal has been removed from the wreck. Most of the illegal salvage has
occurred since 2013.

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HMS Exeter.........HNLMS De Ruyter
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nhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/worlds-biggest-grave-robbery-asias-di
sappearing-ww2-shipwrecks
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Why?
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Historic shipwrecks – particularly those of large, steel-hulled warships sunk before July 1945 –
are one of the world’s few reliable sources of ‘low background’ steel, lead and copper alloys.
These sites contain thousands of tons of metal that has been isolated from increasing amounts of
atmospheric radiation caused by above-ground atomic detonations that commenced with the Trinity
atomic bomb test in July 1945.

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Děkuji za pozornost
Thank You for Attention
doc. JUDr. Pavel Salák jr., Ph. D.
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