There is likely to be a battle over the legal ownership of the wreckage of the Spanish galleon San Jose.
There is likely to be a battle over the legal ownership of the wreckage of the Spanish galleon San Jose.
For centuries, a treasure trove of gold, silver and emeralds was lost beneath the waves of the Caribbean.
But now researchers believe they have identified the “holy grail of shipwrecks”.
The rich treasures of the Spanish galleon San Jose appeared to have been gone forever after it was sunk bythe Royal Navy in 1708.
A squadron commanded by Charles Wager, who would go on to serve as the First Lord of the Admiralty, intercepted the treasure fleet near Baru Island, off Cartagena, Colombia, and attacked, detonating its powder magazines and sending it to the seabed.
The treasure was being transported from Peru to Spain to fund the War of the Spanish Succession against Britain and its allies.
Using underwater drones, they photographed cargo scattered on and around the wreckage. Analysis of the images found silver coins, minted in 1707 with the hallmarks of the mint at Lima, Peru, among the debris.
Other finds included Chinese porcelain from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) and inscriptions on cannons that dated to 1665.
The finds suggest the wreckage is of a ship that sank in the early 18th century.
“This body of evidence substantiates the identification of the wreck as the San Jose galleon, a hypothesis that has been put forward since its initial discovery in 2015,” the academics said.
Analysis of images found silver coins among the wreckage. Photo / ARC-DIMAR via Antiquity.
“The finding of cobs [irregular coins] created in 1707 at the Lima Mint points to a vessel navigating the Tierra Firme route in the early 18th century. The San Jose Galleon is the only ship that matches these characteristics.
“This find presents a rare opportunity to explore an underwater archaeological site and deepen our understanding of colonial maritime trade and routes.”
The analysis will likely deepen a battle over the legal ownership of the wreckage.
Claims have been made by Colombia, Spain, Peru, indigenous communities in the area, descendants of miners who dug up the treasure and Glocca Morra, the treasure-hunting firm, which says it found the wreck as far back as 1981.
Glocca Morra’s new owners, Sea Search Armada, insist that the galleon was found within a few kilometres of the co-ordinates of its 1981 discovery.
The company, which is claiming almost $18b, is also challenging a 2020 law that deemed everything on the ship was Colombian Government property.
The researchers added: “Coins are crucial artefacts for dating and understanding material culture, particularly in shipwreck contexts.
“Hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins – known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish – served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries.”
An 8-escudos cob of 1707, based on high-resolution in situ photographs from the 2022 archaeological campaign. Photo / Antiquity
The findings follow previous carbon-dating analysis of the wreckage that indicated it was approximately 300 years old.
The ship’s cargo will not be recovered from the seafloor until the wreckage is “fully characterised” using “non-invasive surveys”.
With the galleon lying several hundred metres below the surface, it is too deep for human exploration.
