accuracy may be compromised due to out of date information . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . august 2012 odyssey marine exploration type public traded as nasdaq omex industry deep sea diving treasure hunting founded 1994 headquarters tampa florida u.s. key people gregory p. stemm ceo mark d. gordon president coo director revenue us 17.5 million fy 2011 1 operating income us 20.1 million fy 2011 1 net income us 16.2 million fy 2011 1 total assets us 23.4 million fy 2011 2 total equity us 9.77 million fy 2011 2 website www.shipwreck.net odyssey marine exploration inc. is an american company engaged in the salvage of deep water shipwrecks . odyssey salvaged the u.s. civil war era shipwreck of the ss republic in 2003 and recovered over 50 000 coins and 14 000 artifacts from the site nearly 1 700 feet deep . odyssey has several shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world including the codenamed black swan project . 3 4 contents 1 hms sussex 2 frigate mercedes 3 other underwater searches 4 financial difficulties 5 references 6 external links hms sussex edit gregory stemm founder and ceo of odyssey marine exploration the odyssey explorer is odyssey marine exploration s platform to search for and recover sunken treasure . between 1998 and 2001 odyssey marine exploration searched for hms sussex and stated that it had located the shipwreck off gibraltar at a depth of 821 metres . the ship sank in a storm in 1694 during the war of the grand alliance as it was transporting 10 tons of gold coins to buy the allegiance of the duke of savoy victor amadeus ii against france . in september 2002 5 odyssey reached an agreement with the british government on a formula for sharing any potential spoils under which odyssey would get 80 percent of the proceeds up to 45 million 50 percent from 45 million to 500 million and 40 percent above 500 million . the british government would get the rest . the company was poised to start the excavation in the late summer of 2003 6 according to the approved project plan and engaged gifford and partners to assist with archaeological aspects 7 but the project was delayed when odyssey discovered and began excavating the ss republic 8 which continued until early 2003 . 9 the sussex agreement was criticized by some archaeological organizations and charities including the council for british archaeology rescue and the institute of field archaeologists denouncing it as a dangerous precedent for the ransacking of shipwrecks by private firms under the aegis of archaeological research . 10 11 12 an early day motion was signed by 60 british mps condemning the treasure hunting . 10 in december 2005 odyssey began archaeological investigation of the site believed to be hms sussex . the company adhered to the project plan submitted and accepted by the sussex archaeological executive a committee of archaeological consultants approved by the uk government . as of 2009 odyssey had completed phase 1a the non disturbance survey and a substantial portion of phase 1b trial excavation of the site believed to be hms sussex to the satisfaction of the uk government . odyssey was authorized by hmg to complete phase 1b of the project . 13 before odyssey could complete phase 1b of the sussex project plan it was stopped by the spanish authorities in particular the junta of andalusia in january 2006 . 14 in early june 2006 odyssey provided clarification to spain s ministry of foreign affairs through the offices of the embassy of the united kingdom . odyssey then awaited final comments on the plan before resuming operations on the shipwreck believed to be that of the sussex . in march 2007 andalusia gave its assent for the excavation to start with the condition that spanish archaeologists take part in order to ascertain that the shipwreck to be excavated was indeed the sussex and not a spanish vessel . 15 while waiting for andalusia to appoint an archaeologist to participate in the sussex expedition the company began operations on the black swan salvage see below and since then spain has rescinded all cooperation with the company . frigate mercedes edit wikinews has related news 500 million us dollars worth of treasure found off coast of cornwall uk main article black swan project in may 2007 the company announced the salvage of 17 tons of mainly silver and some gold coins from a wreck in an undisclosed location in international waters . the shipwreck was later proved to be that of the spanish frigate nuestra se ora de las mercedes 16 which blew up and sank in the action of 5 october 1804 . 3 17 following the discovery odyssey brought the coins and artifacts recovered into the jurisdiction of the united states federal court by filing an admiralty arrest pursuant to admiralty law . at that time the spanish government claimed that they believed the site was in spanish territorial waters . 18 the spanish government has since conceded that claim and sought to claim the discovered treasure based on their belief that the nuestra se ora de las mercedes should be afforded sovereign immunity . 19 on july 12 2007 the civil guard seized the odyssey marine exploration research vessel ocean alert 3.5 nautical miles 6 km off the european coast . the spanish civil guard claims to be responsible for customs control and european union borders in this region under the eu schengen agreement . this however is disputed by the government of gibraltar and the uk government who claim that the ship was detained in international waters near gibraltar and that spain therefore had no legal authority to board the vessel without the express consent of the flag state of the ship in this case panama . the gibraltar government stated that although this was a matter for the government of panama they are concerned that international shipping using gibraltar port should be interfered with in this way in international waters . 20 the ship was ordered to sail to the spanish port of algeciras to undergo a search and inspection . 21 issues include the value and cultural significance of the shipwreck and the disputed status of gibraltar between the uk and spain . 22 panama is also involved because odyssey s vessel is flagged there . 23 a u.s. federal judge awarded the treasure to spain in december 2009 on the ground that the ship remained the property of spain but odyssey appealed the ruling . finally after a five year legal battle in february 2012 the u.s. supreme court ordered odyssey marine to relinquish the treasure to spanish authorities . spain s culture minister indicated the treasure would be divided among several national museums . 24 in september 2013 a u.s. district judge further ruled that odyssey had acted in bad faith should have recognized spain s right and should thus reimburse 1 million in spain s attorneys fees . 25 odyssey then issued a statement recognizing that this case was unusual and that the court ruling has clarified the applicable law which odyssey is committed to respecting . other underwater searches edit in 2009 odyssey marine exploration s searches were the subject of the discovery channel program treasure quest . in 2014 odyssey marine exploration was selected to salvage gold from the 1857 shipwreck of the ss central america . 26 financial difficulties edit odyssey s stock price fell below 1 in 2014 and traded even lower in 2015 . in december 2015 odyssey announced the sale of part of its assets to a company called monaco financials for 21 million . this capital allowed the company to reimburse a 11.7 million bank debt . sold assets included the company s headquarters building in florida 50 % of underwater mining business neptune minerals and a profit sharing agreement on future shipwreck salvages . ceo mark gordon also stated that the company would refocus on underwater mining while treasure hunting would remain part of the mix . 27 references edit a b c omex income statements recent and historical for odyssey marine exploration . wikinvest . retrieved april 8 2012 . click on annual a b odyssey marine exploration omex annual sec balance sheet filing via wikinvest a b shipwreck yields historic riches 500m worth cnn may 19 2007 record wreck found off cornwall bbc news may 19 2007 hms sussex project overview sussex project moves ahead may 30 2003 odyssey engages gifford and partners for deep ocean archaeological excavation august 11 2003 odyssey discovers sidewheel steamship august 18 2003 odyssey concludes atlantic operations and moves to mediterranean a b giffords to dig billion dollar site . the digger the voice of the field archeologist . may 20 2007 . external link in work help hms sussex rescue may 20 2007 hms sussex cba may 20 2007 the hms sussex shipwreck project site e 82 preliminary report odyssey paper 1 odyssey marine provides sussex update august 18 2003 en busca del tesoro del hms sussex spanish elpais.com 24 march 2007 . retrieved on 2007 05 20 bbc radio world service broadcast what lies beneath first broadcast friday 22 august 2008 shipwreck yields estimated 500 million in gold and silver coins international herald tribune may 18 2007 obtained may 19 2007 spain suspicious over 250m treasure haul independent uk may 21 2007 spain claims sunken treasure time magazine may 8 2008 reyes brian 2007 07 13 . odyssey vessel forced to algeciras by guardia civil . the gibraltar chronicle . archived from the original on 2009 10 19 . retrieved 2009 09 19 . h.b. may 19 2007 . spanish government concerned at odyssey treasure find . ocean alert sails from algeciras gibraltar chronicale july 19 2007 spain intercepts us ship in treasure row . agence france presse . 13 july 2007 . la times article on nuestra se ora de las mercedes penn ivan 30 september 2013 . odyssey marine ordered to pay spain 1 million in black swan case . tampa bay times . retrieved 2 january 2016 . odyssey marine exploration to salvage gold from 1857 shipwreck . tampa bay times . 5 may 2014 . trigaux robert 16 december 2015 . day before bank loan due odyssey marine sells part of business for 21 million . tampa bay times . retrieved 2 january 2016 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to odyssey marine exploration . odyssey marine exploration official web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title odyssey marine exploration & oldid 697881748 categories companies based in tampa floridacompanies established in 1994companies listed on nasdaqlaw of the seashipwrecks1994 establishments in floridahidden categories cs1 errors external linksarticles with obsolete information from august 2012all wikipedia articles in need of updatingcommons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to 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