The remains of a Spanish ship thought to have copious amounts of treasure onboard have been discovered off Colombia’s Caribbean coast, according to President Juan Manuel Santos.
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The discovery was announced by Colombian president, Juan Manual Santos, on his Twitter account.
‘Without a doubt, without room for any doubt, we have found, 307 years after it sank, the San Jose galleon, ‘ Santos said.
The Spanish galleon was found “near Colombia’s Caribbean coast, in our waters, in an archaeological site that turned out to hold the flagship San Jose“.
Nautical Historian Daniel de Narvaez Mcallister told El Espectador newspaper that the San Jose is the holy grail for treasure hunters because it was carrying the accumulation of six years worth of gold and silver being sent back to Spain – making it the most valuable shipwreck in the Western Hemisphere. Sea Search Armada claims it first located the area of the wreck in 1981 and later signed a deal with the Colombian government in which it was promised a 35 per cent share of the treasure.
An American court ruled the wreck and its treasure belonged to Colombia in 2011.
The biggest find, and the most sought after, was the San Jose, Sanabria said.
The president tweeted: “Great news!” He promised to build a museum in Cartagena to exhibit the treasure, which also includes ceramics, brass cannon and the personal wealth of the viceroy of Peru. In 2010, Sea Search Armada sued Colombia in USA courts for acting in bad faith and asked for $17 billion in compensatory damages.
Only a handful of the ship’s crew of 600 survived when the San Jose sank.
Once the shipwreck is taken out of the ocean, the responsibility, as well as the proceeds, of the sunken ship will be exclusively handled by the Colombian government, The Inquisitr noted.
Though no treasure has been found yet, it is believed that items found on the ship could be worth as much as $1.5billion.
Santos didn’t mention any salvage company’s claim during his presentation, but said the ship had been found November 27 in a never-before referenced location through the use of new meteorological and underwater mapping studies.
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The San Jose has always been the source of fascination and popular legends.
