Divers lose bid to keep wreck secret

A federal judge in Tampa has denied a bid by deep-sea explorers to keep secret the details of a 19th century shipwreck that has yielded $500 million in treasure.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo threw out Odyssey Marine Exploration’s request to keep information, including the identity of the ship, sealed as the company argues with Spain over ownership of the 17 tons of silver coins and other artifacts retrieved last year.

The company followed with a news release announcing that the shipwreck was probably the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas, a Spanish galleon that sank in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Portugal in 1804.