A 16th-century shipwreck that may be all that's left of one of the first European voyages to America holds treasures worth millions of dollars. But now a judge has ruled that the company that discovered the wreck off the coast of Florida has no right to salvage the valuable artifacts.
That's because the artifacts may be from a small fleet of French ships, led by the explorer Jean Ribault, which sailed to establish a colony in Florida in 1562 and 1565. In a decision on the legal dispute released last week, U.S. judge Karla Spaulding gave ownership of the wreck and its valuable artifacts to the nation of France.
- Live Science
