This case arose from the shipwreck of the Ibis. ​The vessel is alleged to be mortgaged to Commerzbank SA (the appellant). It is also alleged that, as of 1995, there was a cession of the commercial exploitation of the vessel in favour of Marítima y Comercial Gallega SA and Naviera de Galicia SA, who arranged an insurance policy on the vessel through AGF Union Fénix and Assicurazioni Generali (the respondents) as insurance and co-insurance agent respectively, with the first respondent named as the beneficiary of the policy. The sinking or shipwreck occurred with the total loss of the ship in July 1997 and the insurance companies, in compliance with their contractual obligations and with the knowledge and authorisation of the owner of the ship, compensated the first defendant with the insured sum of ESP 75,000,000. The appellant brought a claim against the respondents, arguing that its mortgage claim should be preferred to that of the first respondent. The court of first instance dismissed its claim, and the appellant appealed to the Provincial Court.

Held: Appeal dismissed.

There was no evidence that the respondents were aware of the appellant's alleged mortgage. Article 1 of the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law Relating to Maritime Liens and Mortgages 1926​ (the MLM Convention 1926), ratified by Spain on 2 July 1930, provides that '[m]ortgages, hypothecations, and other similar charges upon vessels, duly effected in accordance with the law of the Contracting State to which the vessel belongs, and registered in a public register either at the port of the vessel's registry or at a central office, shall be regarded as valid and respected in all the other contracting countries'. In the present case, no evidence exists, apart from the assertion of an interested party, that the mortgage that is said to have been constituted was ever registered in a public registry; therefore, in this respect, the existence of the mortgage agreement has not been proven.