Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., Plaintiffv.The Shipwrecked and Abandoned SS Mantola, its cargo, apparel, tackle, and appurtenances, etc., located within a five nautical mile radius of the coordinates 49° 50′ 16.391″ N, 13° 06′ 11.767″ W, in rem, Defendant
OPINION & ORDEROn February 19, 1917, in the midst of World War I, a British ship, the SS Mantola, was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic. The ship and its cargo — including what is believed to be 536 bars of silver, each weighing 1,000 ounces and together worth several million dollars today — sat at the bottom of the ocean for a century. In 2011, Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (“Odyssey”), an underwater exploration company, located the Mantola. It has since endeavored to bring the ship’s cargo to the surface. In April 2017, Odyssey brought this action in rem, invoking the Court’s admiralty jurisdiction, against the Mantola and its cargo. Odyssey’s complaint seeks to foreclose a maritime lien — a property interest explained below — that it claims against the Mantola for the services Odyssey performed in salvaging the wreck and its cargo. Odyssey has also asserted a claim for ownership over the vessel and its cargo.At issue here is a motion by an alternative claimant. The United Kingdom Department for Transport (“DfT”) entered this case as a claimant, asserting ownership over the Mantola. DfT now moves to dismiss Odyssey’s claims against the Mantola. DfT argues that this Court lacks in rem jurisdiction over that portion of the wreck’s cargo — some 526 of the 536 bars of silver — that it represents was removed from the wreck at an unspecified date in the past two years by an unspecified United Kingdom entity. Further, DfT argues, the removal of the vast majority of the wreck’s valuable cargo makes the wreck no longer viable to salvage, such that Odyssey can no longer plausibly assert a claim for a salvage award, and thus cannot assert a maritime lien on the Mantola.Separately, DfT contends that Odyssey has no right to disclosure of certain information relating to the circumstances under which the 526 bars of silver, take from the wreck, came to be deposited in the United Kingdom with the British government’s Receiver of Wreck. DfT argues that disclosure of such information is prohibited by foreign law, and, in any event, is beyond the scope of the present litigation and thus irrelevant under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1).For the reasons that follow, the Court denies DfT’s motion to dismiss and denies, without prejudice, Odyssey’s request to compel discovery as unripe.I. Background1A. The PartiesOdyssey is an American company engaged in deep-ocean exploration, archaeological investigation, and the recovery of valuable cargo from shipwrecks around the world. Compl.5.On August 17, 2017, DfT entered the case as a claimant under Supplemental Rule for Admiralty and Marine Claims Restricted Appearance Rule E(8).2 Dkt. 32. DfT claims ownership of the entirety of the vessel. See Compl.9; see also Dkt. 322.B. Initial Stage of Salvage of the Vessel (2011-2015)In 1917, the SS Mantola, a United Kingdom-flagged 8,260 gross ton passenger steamship, sank during combat in World War I. Compl.8.In 2011, Odyssey located the Mantola in the North Atlantic Ocean, beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any sovereign nation, at a depth of approximately 2,500 meters. Id.
