A Spanish galleon sink in the Caribbean 300 year ago with an exceptionally valuable cargo has been discovered near the port city of Cartagena , Colombia . address the San Jose , the ship is rumor to contain Au , silver gray , and jewellery worth an estimated $ 4 to $ 17 billion .
President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia made the announcement this preceding weekend bytweeting , “ Great news ! We have find the San Jose Galleon . ” His proclamation was followed by a press conference where more detail were disclosed . Santos aver the find “ be one of the large — if not the openhanded , as some say — discovery of submerged birthright in the chronicle of humanity . ”
The sinking of the San Jose ( credit entry : National Maritime Museum / Samuel Scott ) .
The San Jose was attack and sink by a British war vessel in June 1708 . During the fight , the galleon was reported to have exploded , pour down most of those on - plank . Packed with atomic number 79 , ash gray , and gem collected in the South American colony , it was en route to Spain to assist finance the king during theWar of the Spanish Succession .
For year , the recessed galleon has hedge treasure hunter , but it now appears the “ holy Holy Grail ” of shipwreck has finally been find out .
The accurate localisation of the wreck was not disclosed , but it ’s near the neighborhood of Cartagena . The ship ’s hoarded wealth of bullion and coin has been estimated between $ 4 - 17 billion , which at the time was worth more than Spain ’s annual national income from all sources . The sinking feeling of the San Jose was plainly a terrible military and fiscal tragedy for Spain .
An artifact from the San Jose ( Reuters ) .
It ’s expected to take years for a retrieval squad to to the full explore and excavate the wreck , but a legal battle over who gets the booty is already underway . The Colombian government has a long - standing disagreement with US - based salvage company Sea Search Armada ( SSA ) over who has the rightful call over the hoarded wealth . A group now owned by SSA claims it locate the wreck back in 1981 .
concord to the BBC , the SSA has been claiming billion for breach of contract from Colombia , but four yr ago a US royal court adjudicate that the galleon was the property of the Colombian state . Further , the wreck is report to fall down within the UN ’s definition of an subaquatic ethnic heritage internet site . yet , a CNNreportsuggests that the SSA may demand half of the value of the ship ’s sunken treasure .
In consideration of the discovery , the Colombian government is planning to build a museum in Cartagena to showcase the hoarded wealth .
[ CNN|BBC ]
ArchaeologyColombiaHistoryMarine archaeologyScienceshipwrecks
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