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Commitments and Contingencies | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2013
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | NOTE U – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Rights to Future Revenues, If Any We have sold the rights to share in future revenues, if any, with respect to the “Seattle” (formerly “Republic”) and “HMS Sussex” (formerly “Cambridge”) projects and have recorded $887,500 as Deferred Income from Revenue Participation Rights (See NOTE P). We are contingently liable to share the future revenue of these projects only if revenue is derived from these specific projects. To date, the only income derived from these projects resulted in a one-time revenue distribution payment of $12,986 to the holders of the “Cambridge” RPC’s. Revenue from the SS Republic shipwreck or its cargo is not subject to revenue sharing. In addition, on May 26, 1998, we signed an agreement with a subcontractor that entitled it to receive 5% of the post finance cost proceeds from any shipwrecks in a predefined search area of the Mediterranean Sea. A shipwreck we have found, which we believe to be HMS Sussex, is located within the specified search area and we will be responsible to share future revenues, if any, from this shipwreck. On December 9, 2002, a Georgia limited liability company acquired the 5% interest from the subcontractor through a foreclosure sale (see NOTE O). In February 2011, we entered into a project syndication deal with Galt Resources LLC (“Galt”) for which they invested $7,512,500 representing rights to future revenues of any project of Galt’s choosing. See NOTE P for further detail. Legal Proceedings On April 16, 2012, the Kingdom of Spain filed a motion with the district court for an award of attorney’s fees and costs related to the “Black Swan” case claiming in excess of $3,000,000. On November 15, 2012, the Magistrate Judge entered a Report and Recommendation recommending Spain recover fees and costs, but only those incurred after dismissal of the case from February 10, 2012 to March 20, 2012, related to the transfer of artifacts held in Gibraltar. This amounted to approximately $130,000 of which the full amount was reserved in 2012. Failing to adopt the Report and Recommendation, on September 26, 2013 the District Court Judge entered an Order assessing $1,072,979 related to attorney’s fees. Payment was made on October 11, 2013, and a Satisfaction of Judgment was executed and filed on October 21, 2013. The difference between the $1,072,979 and $130,000 of $942,979 was expensed in entirety in the Marketing, general and administrative line of our Consolidated Statement of Income. The Company may be subject to a variety of claims and suits that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Management currently believes that these claims and suits will not have a material adverse impact on its financial position or its results of operations. Other Commitments and Contingencies We currently charter our exploration vessel, the Dorado Discovery. The charter for this vessel is set to expire on April 30, 2014. The vessel’s owner has agreed to extend the charter for four additional years. Years one and two will be at £8,400 sterling per day (approximately $14,000 USD) and years three and four will be at £8,960 sterling (approximately $14,900 USD) per day. Trends and Uncertainties Our 2014 business plan requires us to generate new cash inflows during 2014 to effectively allow us to perform our planned projects. We plan to generate new cash inflows through the monetization of shipwreck cargo or our equity stakes in seabed mineral companies, financings, syndications or other partnership opportunities. One or more of the planned shipwreck or mining project monetizations, financings, syndications or partnership opportunities may not be realized which may require us to curtail our desired business plan until we generate additional cash. We currently have no commitments for new debt or issuance of new equity and we can offer no assurance any of our planned projects will be successful in providing additional cash during 2014. We have experienced several years of net losses. Our capacity to generate net income in future periods is dependent upon our success in recovering and monetizing shipwrecks, monetizing our interests in mineral exploration entities, generating income from shipwreck or mineral exploration charters or generating income from other projects. In 2014, we will seek to monetize some of our stake in our mineral exploration shareholdings, recover and monetize cargo from the SS Central America, and generate cash inflows from other projects and opportunities. If cash inflow is not sufficient to meet our desired projected business plan requirements, we will be required to follow our contingency business plan which is based on curtailed expenses and requires less new cash inflows. While we have been successful in generating cash inflows and raising the necessary funds in the past, there can be no assurance that we can continue to do so in 2014.

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