Shipwrecks are as much a part of Florida's history and culture as the coastal waters and seasonal storms that caused many of them.

Their presence is felt strongly in the Keys, where hundreds of wrecks have been identified, excavated and studied.

Museums have been built around the history of the ships, archaeologists have gained an understanding of earlier cultures and commercial salvors have made millions from Spanish treasure that was buried on the ocean floor for centuries.

But the salvors' role in excavating wrecks has been called into question in recent years, and the right to continue their trade hangs in a perilous balance with the government of Spain holding the power to tip the scales.

Spain's influence into U.S. admiralty law became apparent about two years ago during the much-publicized case involving the Spanish wrecks Juno and La Galga off the coast of Virginia.

Sea Hunt Inc., a commercial salvaging company, applied for permission to locate and excavate the ships that were lost hundreds of years ago.

In accordance with the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987 - which gave the state of Virginia ownership of the wreck - Sea Hunt received permission from the state to conduct its salvaging operations in March 1998.

But from May through August of that year, Sea Hunt was stymied in its work as the federal government tried to claim ownership of the wreck, and then attempted to claim ownership on behalf of the kingdom of Spain.

If the ships were not determined to be abandoned by Spain, then Spain would own the wrecks, and would be given time to seek its own counsel.

"In either instance, the United States' interests are not at stake," the court ruled two months before a Washington, D.C.-based law firm filed a claim for Spain.

This claim and the ensuing legal battle is of utmost importance for the maritime community of the U.S., and call into question the laws that determine abandonment of a shipwreck.

Key West attorney David Paul Horan, who successfully argued in the Supreme Court for the late treasure hunter Mel Fisher in the 1980s, became involved in the Juno and La Galga cases after another law firm had unsuccessfully appealed the ruling of the 4th Circuit Court in Virginia.

That ruling revoked ownership from the salvors and passed it on to Spain because the country had never expressly abandoned the shipwrecks.

The question of expressed and implied abandonment is one that Horan plans to bring forth to the Supreme Court in his petition for a writ of certiorari, which points out a lack of uniformity in different circuit courts when it comes to determining abandonment and therefore ownership.

The 4th Circuit Court ruled that any sovereign nation can claim a shipwreck once it has been located as long as it never formally relinquished all claims to it.

A 200-year-old shipwreck that was tossed apart in a storm and has been ignored ever since qualifies as "circumstances" that would lead someone to think the ship has been abandoned, Horan said.

"Using common sense, when would Spain have ever thought to expressly abandon 'what was left' of La Galga? Why would Spain go through formal authorization to expressly abandon Juno 'lost in heavy fog' hundreds of years ago?" Horan wrote.

"Unless this court dictates a coherent national and uniform legal standard of 'implied abandonment' for property lost at sea, the admiralty courts of the United States will have seen their last..salvage of long-lost historic vessels. The management of the underwater cultural heritage of this country [by the states under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act] and the judicial discretion of our admiralty courts under salvage law will be at an end."

Horan also is asking the court why salvors would risk time, money and their lives on a salvage operation only to have it ended abruptly when a government decides it wants to claim the shipwreck.

Their would be no incentive for the salvage efforts to take place, and minimal preservation of historic artifacts brought up from the ocean floor.

"The express abandonment standard is effectively putting an end to salvage law and the Abandoned Shipwreck Act," Horan said. "Any nation can now say, 'Thanks for finding my boat that I lost 300 years ago.'"

Spain's sudden interest in 300-year-old wrecks has perplexed people like Pat Clyne, vice president of the Fisher family's Treasure Salvors Inc., and lawyer Tom Ryan.

Clyne, Ryan and others believe that the Department of Justice may have initiated talks with Spain and encouraged the country to claim its wrecks.

Once Spain claims the wrecks not already covered under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act, the country could, in theory, ask for help in excavating the wrecks from the U.S. Parks Department, which has the necessary treasure-hunting equipment.

This partnership would exclude the private salvors and benefit both governments financially, Clyne said.

Ryan became concerned and involved with the issue when a recovery permit he requested from the state was being delayed.

"We were told that the Justice Department was waiting to hear back from Spain about our permit," he said, explaining that Spain had never previously been contacted about any salvage permits.

Meetings have been held in Marathon to discuss the issue, but questions presented to Spain have remained unanswered. No representatives from Spain attended the meetings.

Commercial salvors posed several questions to representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - the federal governing body of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Dave Savage is the upper region manager for the sanctuary and also heads up the Submerged Cultural Resources Division.

"The U.S. Department of Justice told federal agencies [such as NOAA] that they need to consult with Spain once we see evidence that the wreck is a Spanish-owned vessel," Savage said, though he could not say what prompted the Spanish government's involvement.

"I'm not sure how it happened," he said, mentioning that a meeting was held last week in Washington to discuss the situation.

Savage, acting as liaison for the salvors, gave a representative of the Spanish ambassador a list of questions the salvors wanted answered, including inquiries about what prompted Spain's involvement and the specific definition of abandonment as well as asking for a list of wrecks that Spain has deemed abandoned.

"We did not get a commitment from them to answer the questions," Savage said. "It is up to Spain to take the next step - it is out of our hands."

mbolen@keysnews.com