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Multi-Billion Dollar Shipwreck to be Raised From The Depths

Updated: Feb 26, 2024

To much excitement in 2015, the wreck of a Spanish ship laden with treasure that was sunk by the British more than 300 years ago was found off the Colombian coast. Then President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted: "Great news! We have found the San José galleon."


Explosion of San José during Wager's Action, oil on canvas by Samuel Scott
Explosion of San José | Oil on canvas by Samuel Scott | Wikipedia

President Gustavo Petro has made it a priority to lift the vessel before his term comes to an end in 2026.


Colombia’s Culture Minister Juan David Correa told Bloomberg: "The president has told us to pick up the pace." Hardly surprising, as the ship is believed to have been carrying 200 tons of treasure, reportedly worth up to $20 billion (in today's money), when it went down on 8 June 1708.


It has apparently been dubbed the “Holy Grail of shipwrecks” for the huge amounts of information it could offer about the early 1700s. But, let's face it, billions of dollars of treasure surely adds to the allure. Previous research suggests the ship is loaded with gold, silver, emeralds, intact Chinese porcelain, pottery and cannons.


With all that treasure sitting 600 feet below the surface, you might have expected that the Colombians would "pick up the pace" rather faster. However, the discovery have been a bone of contention on at least three fronts.


Spain, naturally, reckons they have a right to some of the proceeds. Bolivia's indigenous Qhara Qhara nation argues Spain was only able to obtain the treasure because it forced their people to mine on its behalf. Then there's a US research group that claims to have first discovered the wreck in 1981 and handed the coordinates to Colombia with the condition it would receive half the wealth.


So, whilst the San José galleon may finally reach the surface in the not too distant future, there's still going to be the ongoing title disputes to resolve.

 
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