Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (AMEX:OMR), a leader in the field of deep ocean shipwreck exploration, has posted an updated status report on the SS Republic project on their website at http://www.shipwreck.net. The update includes details on work done to date on the shipwreck site and reports from Project Manager, Tom Dettweiler.
Odyssey has completed the inspection and excavation on the main area of the shipwreck site. During this inspection and archaeological excavation, Odyssey has recovered over 51,000 gold and silver coins and nearly 13,000 artifacts. The coins recovered to date represent approximately 25% of the face value of the specie believed to be on board. Odyssey's next steps include the survey and excavation of the debris trail. Research suggests that the top deck of the SS Republic broke away as the ship was sinking and Odyssey believes the additional coins believed to be on the ship when it sank may be found in the debris trail created when the ship broke apart as it sank to the ocean floor nearly 1,700 feet deep.
"Based on our research we still believe that there was $400,000 in specie that went down with the ship, which, if correct, means we've only recovered about 25% of what should be down there," commented Greg Stemm, Odyssey co-founder. "Since we have not found the purser's safe - nor any safe, for that matter, it leads us to theorize that it may have fallen off when the main deck cabins, which we believe housed the purser's office, were detached from the main deck. We hope that we can follow the debris field to the spot where all the artifacts from those main deck cabins should be lying. We have already found some really interesting artifacts in the debris field - now we plan on following them like a trail of bread crumbs. It will be interesting to see what we find."
The project update also includes a partial gold coin population report detailing the gold coins conserved and graded by Numismatic Conservation Services (NCS) and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) through September 16, 2004.
Odyssey Marine Exploration is an American Stock Exchange Company (Ticker symbol:OMR) with several shipwreck projects in various stages of development throughout the world, including the SS Republic and HMS Sussex projects. Additional information about Odyssey, its projects and equipment is available at http://www.shipwreck.net.
The Company believes the information set forth in this Press Release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Certain factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in "Risk Factors," and "Business" in the Company's annual report on Form 10KSB for the year ended February 29, 2004, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.