The San Jose was found submerged off the coast of Baru in what is now Colombia, near the Rosario Islands.
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The ship’s cargo, originally collected in South American colonies, was meant to be transported to Spain to help King Philip V finance the war effort. 600 lives were lost.
Danilo Devis, who has represented Sea Search in Colombia for decades, expressed optimism that the sunken treasure, whose haul could easily be worth more than $10 billion, would finally be recovered.
“Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos told a press conference”.
A long-running legal dispute has been at the centre of the issue of San Jose’s ownership for years.
We will build a great museum here in Cartagena. Larry is our main news editor.
The San Jose, thought by historians to be laden with emeralds and precious coins, sank in 1708. There was an initial agreement to split any findings, but in 1984 then-president Belisario Betancur reduced Sea Search’s share to a 5% “finder’s fee.”
A team of Colombian and foreign researchers, including a veteran of the group that discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985, studied winds and currents of the Caribbean 307 years ago and delved into colonial archives in Spain and Colombia searching for clues.
The government later reversed its agreement and said any proceeds would belong exclusively to Colombia, prompting a lawsuit from SSA.
The find was not confirmed and a United States court ultimately ruled it was Colombian property.
A gold chalice found on board a Spanish galleon sunk around the same time as the San Jose.
Commodore Charles Wager described the close quarters broadsides – and said the San Jose exploded with such intensity he could feel the heat from his own ship.
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The site has not yet been tapped, however, the government said excavation is likely to take several years – the discovery is entirely based on scans of the site. Divers have not reached the wreckage, but remote controlled underwater vehicles have brought back pictures of dolphin-stamped bronze cannons that are well preserved and offer no doubt as to the ship’s identity.
