This undated picture released on December 5, 2015 by the Colombian Culture Ministry’s press office shows the remains of the Spanish galleon San Jose sunk off the Caribbean coast of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
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“This has an enormous archaeological value for Colombia and for all of humanity”, Santos said, announcing that a museum will be built in Cartagena to showcase the discovery.
The treasure on board could be worth billions of dollars.
She never arrived. She was sunk after a 90-minute battle with HMS Expedition, part of a four-ship squadron hunting the Spanish treasure fleet in the southern Caribbean. “Tomorrow I will give the details in a press conference from Cartagena”, he tweeted.
“The Colombian government will continue its investigative process of exploring and protecting submerged cultural patrimony”, he added.
Indeed, the legal dispute is seemingly as dramatic as the sinking of San Jose itself, which was destroyed in 1708 by British warships thwarting Spain’s delivery of New World riches.
Treasure hunters had searched for the ship for decades, and although they found plenty of other wrecks, the San Jose’s final resting place had remained a mystery until now. Sea Search Armada, an American company, claims it was under contract with the Colombian government to search for the San Jose and was promised a portion of its treasure. SSA said in 1981 it had located the area where the ship sank.
It is estimated that the San Jose is one of more than 1,000 galleons and merchant ships that sank along Colombia’s coral reefs over more than three centuries of colonial rule.
According to the president, the operation to find the San Jose, which English pirates shot and sank with cannons, was coordinated by the Colombian Anthropology and History Institute, or ICANH, from the naval vessel ARC Malpelo, with the aid of worldwide scientists and modern technologies.
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SSA and the government were partners back then and adhering to worldwide custom, they agreed to split any proceeds.
