Court Rules Spain Owns Sunken Ships

Spain owns the remains of two warships that sank off the Virginia coast two centuries ago, a federal appeals court ruled. The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge’s ruling last year granting Spain title to the Juno, which disappeared off the Eastern shore in 1802 with about 435 passengers aboard. According to some accounts, the ship was laden with as much as $500 million in coins and precious metals. The appeals court also reversed a judge’s ruling on a second ship, La Galga. The judge had ruled that the ship, which sank in 1750 a few miles north of what is believed to be the Juno site, belonged to Virginia. Spain appealed the decision and now owns both shipwrecks, even though they are well within the three-mile limit that Congress established as territorial waters for coastal states.