Britain abandoned its fight to recover treasure worth £5.5billion from a Royal navy shipwreck near Gibraltar over fears it would upset Spain.
Leaked cables from the early 2000s show how ministers scrapped plans to rescue a warship understood to be HMS Sussex in case it would threaten relations with Spain, despite the UK owning the wreck.
HMS Sussex was a Royal Navy flagship lost off Gibraltar more than three centuries ago. It is believed the wreck sits in international waters to the east of Gibraltar, which Britain could claim under international maritime law.
The warship sunk in a storm in 1694 while carrying up
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