The Black Swan

 Spanish Gold

For over 350 years, Spain and the UK have had an argument over who the gold on the ship, Nuestra Senora des las Mercedes, belongs to.

She was part of a fleet that left Cartegana, Colombia in 1645. She was sank by a British ship off the coast of Gibraltar - she couldn't have gone down in a worse place for these countries - to this day, Gibraltar is a hot potato.

The Spanish say the gold is theirs, it came from the colonies in South America, and was headed to Spain during the Wars of the Spanish Succession, so they say it belings to Spain.

The UK said as she went down off Gibraltar, the gold in in British waters, but Spain has never agreed to Gibraltar being British, and as she went down 12 miles out of the port she was in Spanish waters.

In 2007, a US-based crew dived on the ship,using a  and recovered some of the gold, this lead to the crew being accused of looting, and a long trial being held in Tampa Bay, Florida.

After a long legal battle, the court ruled in favor of Spain, and the diving crew had to pay a $1 billion fine for aggressive litigation and bad faith..