14852: (Chamberlain) Spanish police seize reputed Columbus ship bell (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MADRID, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Spanish police, acting on a request from
Portugal, on Monday seized the supposed bell of Christopher Columbus'
flagship, the Santa Maria, days before it was due to be sold at auction,
the auctioneers said.
     Police bearing a court order arrived at a Madrid hotel soon after the
bell went on display, three days before the auction, said David del Val,
director-general of Gestion de Activos y Subastas (Asset Management and
Auctions).
     The bell, which the auctioneers believe could fetch millions of euros,
was retrieved from the sea off the Portuguese coast by an Italian diver in
1994. It is reputed to be the bell which tolled from the Santa Maria in
1492 as Columbus approached the Americas for the first time.
     The court order, issued at the request of Portuguese authorities,
ordered the suspension of this week's sale pending an investigation.
     "We will defend our interests," del Val told Reuters.
     In Lisbon, the Portuguese Culture Ministry said the Portuguese
Archaeological Institute (IPA) requested that Spanish authorities impound
the bell and have it examined by experts to find out if it really was on
board the Santa Maria.
     The IPA first heard of the bell when contacted by an Italian treasure
hunter who found it in Portuguese waters, but they never heard from him
again, the ministry said.
     The ministry said Portugal was monitoring developments and awaiting
the experts' testimony before deciding on its next step.
     Italian diver Roberto Mazzara told a news conference in Madrid in
November that he found the 14-kg (30-pound) bell in 1994 near a wrecked
galleon, the San Salvador, which sank off the coast of Portugal in the 16th
century as it was bringing treasure to Spain from the Americas.
     Mazzara says documents and other evidence show the bell belonged to
the Santa Maria, which ran aground off Haiti in 1492. Heavily oxidised, the
bell has a large gash in one side where it was damaged as it was moved from
the sea bed.