“Most valuable treasure”: Spanish shipwreck from 1708 worth $17 billion needs to be recovered
Centuries after the Spanish galleon ship San Jose sank in Colombian waters and nearly a decade after it was first discovered, the estimated $17 billion shipwreck is expected to be recovered as early as April, officials said.
“For the first time in history, a model of comprehensive public management of the archaeological site and cultural heritage is being advanced, protected through regulations and public missionality,” the Colombian government said in a press release translated on Tuesday.
The treasure of the 150-foot-long, 64-gun, three-masted galleon ship consists of 200 tons of silver and emeralds, 11 million gold coins, an intact Chinese dinner service and porcelain ceramics, Colombian Navy divers found in June 2022.
When the wreck was first rediscovered in 2015, former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a press conference: “This is the most valuable treasure found in human history.” Santos also paid tribute to the 600 people who died during the wreck were on board the ship.
Current Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered that the recovery be coordinated by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Knowledge, the General Directorate of Maritime Navigation of the National Navy and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, the press release said.
The San José was sunk by British warships in 1708 while returning to Spain with a cargo of treasure intended to finance the War of the Spanish Succession, a European conflict that lasted from 1701 to 1714.
The shipwreck’s deep-sea location, which remained a mystery until 2015, is near Cartagena, a port city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, Colombian officials said in the news release.
In December 2015, former President Santos announced the discovery the San Jose Galleon, which sparked an international debate about the rightful owner of the ship’s spoils.
Colombia, Spain, Bolivian indigenous groups and an American salvage company have all sought to legally take possession of the historic wreck, which is now estimated to be worth $17 billion, according to court documents from Colombia’s National Legal Defense Agency, seen by Business Insider received in 2016 2023.
A U.S. salvage company, Sea Search Armada (SSA), claimed it discovered the San José’s location in 1981 and sought to claim legal responsibility against Colombia for the ship’s salvage.
However, in 2011, a U.S. court declared the galleon the property of the Colombian state, according to court documents.
In 2018, UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, intervened when the Colombian government attempted to auction some of San José’s artifacts to fund restoration costs.
“Permitting the commercial exploitation of Colombia’s cultural heritage violates the best scientific standards and international ethical principles, as set out in particular in the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage,” said a letter from the cultural agency to Colombian Culture Minister Mariana Garces Cordoba.
In May 2022, the official decision was made to manage the “invaluable cultural heritage of Colombians under the direction of a protected archaeological area of national order,” the press release said.
In the 316 years since the San José sank, the ship has remained untouched except for natural wear and tear from the sea.
“So far, the entire discovery of the Galeón San José Cultural Property and its archaeological evidence has been deposited without any variation, apart from that caused by the marine dynamics themselves (currents and fauna), and without evidence of external intervention,” according to the press release.
The Colombian state will invest 17,962 million pesos ($1,073,646) in the recovery process, officials say.
