MDM Salvage, Inc. v. Unidentified, Wrecked & Abandoned Sailing Vessel

MEMORANDUM OPINION CONTAINING FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

ARONOVITZ, District Judge.

Rival salvors, perhaps more accurately described as modern day treasure hunters, are herein litigating their respective rights to salvage what they believe to be one or more Spanish ship wrecks dating from the 1730s in an area known as “Coffins Patch,” lying seaward of Marathon, Florida.

BACKGROUND

MDM Salvage, Inc. (MDM), has claimed a triangular shaped area of the ocean, pursuant to a warrant of arrest originally issued in Case No. 84-2256-Civ~ARONOVITZ (and thereafter amended) in which to conduct…