After months of review, the British government has given final approval for the recovery of a 17th-century shipwreck believed to contain history's richest sunken treasure. British officials said that they would announce their approval this week of the recovery plan — the endeavor's last legal hurdle — and that the recovery team said deep-sea excavation would begin this summer.
The reviews dealt with criticism from British experts who said they worried the public-private recovery plan might not be up to scholarly standards, officials said.
The British government believes the excavation site contains the wreckage of HMS Sussex, which went down in a storm in 1694 with tons of gold coins. Today, experts said, the cargo could fetch perhaps as much as $4 billion.
The warship, with its 80 guns and 500 men, was leading a large British fleet into the Mediterranean to fight a war against France and its expansionist agenda under Louis XIV, the Sun King. The gold was to buy the loyalty of the Duke of Savoy, a shaky ally on France's southeastern flank who controlled important invasion routes to and from Paris.
The ship sank in waters a half mile deep. The finders of its putative resting place will publicly identify the site only as off Gibraltar.
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. of Tampa, Fla., found what the British authorities believe to be the wreckage of the Sussex during four expeditions from 1998 to 2001. It is a disintegrating mound rich in cannons, anchors and other artifacts. In September, the company signed an agreement with the British government to raise its remains from the bottom of the Mediterranean and split the proceeds. Under maritime law, a sunken warship remains the property of the owner state.
With its recovery plan approved on Thursday, Odyssey is now gearing up for an expedition this summer. A large vessel is to hover over the mound and send down a tethered robot to map the site and clear away debris. The robot, equipped with bright lights and arms, will move artifacts and ship parts to lifting baskets for transport to the surface.
Last year in Britain, some archaeologists and politicians criticized the for-profit deal as potentially damaging to British interests, leading to a delay in carrying out the accord. But their objections proved insufficient to kill the deal.
This week, British and company officials said, the two parties are to announce the government's approval of a modified version of Odyssey's original recovery plan. The plan details the approved means of artifact recovery and archaeological investigation. Officials said the plan, 107 pages long, would be kept confidential, in part to protect the site.