Peru makes last-minute claim to Spanish booty of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes

The company removed the booty — valued at a half billion dollars,
which would make it the richest sunken treasure ever to be salvaged —
from the wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes
in 2007 but had repeatedly failed in legal efforts to prevent Spain
from claiming it, according to the AP. The wreck was found near
Portugal and the Strait of Gibraltar.

The news agency said Peru's last-ditch appeal, which was directed to
Justice Clarence Thomas, called on the US high court to delay the
transfer of the treasure while the Peruvian government developed legal
arguments in favor of a claim to the booty.

While Peruvian officials did not answer requests for comment, the
Peruvian government has claimed in the past the gold in cargo of the
Nuestra Señora was mined, refined and minted in Peru, then part of the
Spanish empire, according to the AP, which said similar Peruvian
claims had been rejected in the past by US courts.

The AP did not indicate whether tomorrow's scheduled transfer of the
treasure would occur but said Justice Thomas did not indicate when he
might respond to the Peruvian motion.

The Nuestra Señora was sunk by the British navy in 1804 with 200 hands aboard.