Colombia says the legendary shipwreck’s treasure of “incalculable value” will be recovered by an underwater robot

The Colombian government announced on Friday an expedition to recover items of “incalculable value” from the wreck of the iconic ship San Jose Galleon, which sank in 1708 loaded with gold, silver and emeralds estimated to be worth billions of dollars. The 316 year old wreck, often referred to as the “Holy Grail” of shipwreckswas controversial as it is both an archaeological and economic treasure.

Culture Minister Juan David Correa told AFP that more than eight years after Discovery of the wreck An underwater robot would be sent off the coast of Colombia to collect some of its prey.

Between April and May, the robot retrieved some items from the “surface of the galleon” to see “how they materialize when they come out (of the water) and to understand what we can do” about the rest to recover the treasures. Correa said.

The operation will cost more than $4.5 million and the robot will work at a depth of 600 meters to remove items such as ceramics, pieces of wood and shells “without altering or damaging the wreckage,” Correa said AFP on board a large naval vessel.

The location of the expedition is kept secret to protect suspicion one of the largest archaeological finds in the story of malicious treasure hunters.

The galleon “San Jose” was the property of the Spanish Crown when it was sunk by the British Navy near Cartagena in 1708. Only a handful of her 600-man crew survived.

“That makes it very sensitive because you can’t interfere with war graves,” said Justin Leidwanger, an archaeologist at Stanford University who studies ancient shipwrecks. told LiveScience.

The ship had returned from the New World to the court of King Philip V of Spain, loaded with treasures such as chests full of emeralds and about 200 tons of gold coins.

Before Colombia announced the discovery in 2015It has long been sought after by treasure hunters.

“As if we were in colonial times”

The galleon’s discovery sparked a tug-of-war over who would get custody of its loot.

Spain insists the bounty is theirs because it was aboard a Spanish ship, while the Qhara-Qhara nation in Bolivia says it should receive the treasure because the Spanish forced the community’s population to mine the precious metals.

The government of leftist President Gustavo Petro, in power since 2022, wants to use the country’s own resources to recover the wreck and ensure it stays in Colombia.

The idea is to “stop thinking about the fact that we are dealing with a treasure that we have to fight for as if we were in colonial times, with the pirates who claimed these territories,” said Culture Minister Correa.

Spanish Ambassador to Colombia Joaquin de Aristegui said he had instructions to offer Colombia a “bilateral agreement” to protect the wreck.

Bolivia’s indigenous population has expressed its willingness to cooperate with Petro’s government and has now demanded the return of only some parts of the ship.

“Not only for symbolic reasons, but above all for spiritual reasons,” local leader Samuel Flores told AFP. “We just want our ancestors to live in peace.”

The expedition to recover the shipwreck comes as a case before the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration between Colombia and the US-based salvage company Sea Search Armada, which claims to have first found the wreck over 40 years ago .

The company is asking for $10 billion, half the wreck’s estimated value today.

In June 2022, Colombia announced that a remotely operated vehicle had landed 900 meters below the ocean’s surface New pictures of the wreck.

The video showed the best look yet at the treasure found aboard the San Jose – including gold bars and coins, cannons made in Seville in 1655 and an intact Chinese dinner service.

At the time, Reuters reported that the remotely operated vehicle also discovered two other shipwrecks in the area, including a schooner believed to be about two centuries old.