Fla. deep-sea explorers working on more shipwrecks

[November 07, 2008]  TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Florida deep-sea explorers who struck it rich in 2007 on the wreck of a Spanish galleon say they have found two more shipwrecks in the north Atlantic Ocean.

Odyssey Marine Exploration filed documents in Tampa federal court Wednesday seeking exclusive salvage rights to the unnamed wrecks found more than 300 miles outside the English Channel. The company believes both sites could yield valuable cargo.

The Tampa-based company salvaged what could be the richest shipwreck in history in the spring of 2007 in the Atlantic off Portugal. It brought home an estimated $500 million in silver coins and other artifacts from the galleon.

The Spanish government is battling Odyssey in U.S. federal court over ownership of the treasure.

[Associated Press]

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