As the legal proceedings by the Spanish government against maverick American treasure hunting outfit Odyssey Marine Exploration drag on, a less high-profile story involving maritime loot has just concluded in Australia.
The case involved a businessmen, Christopher Woolgrove, luring investors into handing over more than $2m, to lift the lucre from a gold-laden Portuguese shipwreck off Sumatra. Which never existed. In 1995 he was convicted for touting a similar scheme. But this time he used the ‘credibility’ of unabashed underwater treasure hunter Captain Mike Hatcher, who claimed that the episode had tainted his ‘reputation’.
Tags: Christopher Woolgrove, looting, Mike Hatcher, Odyssey Marine Exploration, pirates, treasure hunters, underwater looting
