That would most likely have been the end of the story, despite the fact that no one really believed that the British team had returned all the treasure that they had raised. However, as seems to be the destiny of this enigmatic vessel, just when it seemed to have once again faded into the annals of history, a new chapter opened.
In December 2004 the Polluce’s ship’s bell surfaced in Paris.
This was swiftly followed by a joint Italian and French police operation, which traced the bell and more of the Polluce treasure, to the man police had always suspected of selling the co-ordinates, used to locate the shipwreck, to the British divers.
At his house, police also uncovered documents and treasure inventories that implicated a number of other people, both British and Italian citizens, who later stood trial.