Sunken Spanish galleon from 1708 could be ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’ with $20bn of treasure

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A Spanish ship that sank within the Caribbean in 1708 could maintain sunken treasure together with gold, silver, and emeralds price as much as $20bn, the Colombian authorities mentioned, unveiling plans to discover the legendary galleon.

Colombia mentioned it’s launching a authorities expedition to analyze the wreck of the San Jose galleon, dubbed the “holy grail of shipwrecks.”

Historical information counsel the ship was carrying wealth gathered from a number of of South America’s Spanish colonies, together with over 100 metal chests full of emeralds and thousands and thousands of gold and silver cash.

Launched in 1698, the ship sank in a battle off Barú Island south of Cartagena because it was travelling from the New World to the courtroom of King Philip V of Spain, laden with treasure for the royal coffers.

Historians say the ship encountered a British squadron close to Barú and within the ensuing battle the legendary galleon’s powder magazines detonated, destroying it and killing over 500 members of the crew.

A earlier expedition by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution situated the sunken galleon in 2015, however makes an attempt are but to be made to get well its treasure.

Colombia mentioned on Friday that it’s investing about $4.5m in 2024 alone to discover the galleon.

The authorities is conserving the placement of the expedition a secret to discourage novice treasure hunters.

Researchers hope to make use of new expertise to discover the water across the shipwreck at a depth of almost 600m (about 2,000 ft).

So far, oceanographers have used sea depth evaluation and soil research of the ocean mattress to grasp the very best methods to extract the galleon’s contents.

The authorities plans to make use of submerged robotic expertise to extract some of the treasure from the floor of the sunken ship between April and May.

This could assist decide what situation treasure from different components of the ship would be in when it comes out of the water.

The ship’s discovery sparked a tug-of-war over its custody, with Spain claiming the bounty was theirs and Bolivia insisting the treasures belonged to its indigenous Qhara Qhara nation who have been compelled to mine for the valuable metals by Spanish colonists.

Colombian president Gustavo Petro desires to make use of the federal government’s personal assets to get well the wreck and guarantee it stays throughout the nation.

Officials say the expedition is being deliberate for cultural causes greater than to find sunken treasure, primarily to grasp what life was like for the tons of on board earlier than the vessel sank.

“History is the treasure,” Juan David Correa, Colombia’s minister of tradition, advised the Associated Press.