Cannon, cash recovered from “holy grail” of shipwrecks that sank 3 centuries in the past with billions of {dollars} in treasure

A cannon, three cash and a porcelain cup have been among the many first objects Colombian scientists recovered from the depths of the Caribbean Sea the place the legendary Spanish galleon San José sank in 1708 after being attacked by an English fleet, authorities mentioned Thursday.

The restoration is a part of a scientific investigation that the federal government approved final yr to review the wreckage and the causes of the sinking. Colombian researchers situated the galleon in 2015, resulting in authorized and diplomatic disputes. Its precise location is a state secret.

Dubbed the “holy grail of shipwrecks,” the ship is believed to carry 11 million gold and silver cash, emeralds and different treasured cargo from Spanish-controlled colonies, which may very well be price billions of {dollars} if ever recovered.

President Gustavo Petro’s authorities has mentioned that the aim of the deep-water expedition is analysis and never the treasure’s seizure.

Colombia’s tradition ministry mentioned in an announcement Thursday that the cannon, cash and porcelain cup will bear a conservation course of at a lab devoted to the expedition.

The wreckage is nearly 2,000 toes deep within the sea.

“This historic occasion demonstrates the strengthening of the Colombian State’s technical, skilled, and technological capabilities to guard and promote Underwater Cultural Heritage, as a part of Colombian id and historical past,” Yannai Kadamani Fonrodona, Minister of Cultures, Arts, and Information, mentioned in a assertion.

The prevailing principle has been that an explosion prompted the 62-gun, three-masted galleon to sink after being ambushed by an English squadron. However Colombia’s authorities has steered that it may have sunk for different causes, together with harm to the hull.

The ship has been the topic of a authorized battle in the USA, Colombia and Spain over who owns the rights to the sunken treasure.

Colombia is in arbitration litigation with Sea Search Armada, a bunch of U.S. buyers, for the financial rights of the San José. The agency claims $10 billion equivalent to what they assume is price 50% of the galleon treasure that they declare to have found in 1982.

Earlier this yr, researchers analyzed intricately designed gold cash discovered close to the wreck, confirming they’re certainly from the long-lasting San Jose. The cash function depictions of castles, lions and crosses on the entrance and the “Topped Pillars of Hercules” above ocean waves on the again, in line with a brand new examine printed within the journal Antiquity.

In 2024, Colombian authorities mentioned one remotely operated car surveyed the wreck, uncovering quite a few artifacts, together with an anchor, jugs and glass bottles.

The Colombian authorities introduced final yr it could start extractions from the ship off its Caribbean coast, utilizing a number of remotely operated automobiles. The ship’s precise location has been saved secret to guard the storied wreck from potential treasure hunters.

Since its discovery, a number of events have laid declare to the shipwreck, together with Colombia, Spain and Indigenous Qhara Qhara Bolivians who declare the treasures on board have been stolen from them. The wreck has additionally been claimed by U.S.-based salvage firm Sea Search Armada, which says it first found the wreck greater than 40 years in the past.

The reason for the San Jose’s sinking has additionally been debated. British paperwork point out that the ship didn’t explode, in line with Colombia’s authorities, however Spanish studies recommend the ship was blown up in battle.

Both manner, the ship — laden with chests of emeralds and about 200 tons of gold — sank with most of its crew whereas heading again from the New World to Spain on June 7, 1708.

In Could 2024, Colombia declared the positioning of the shipwreck a “protected archeological space.”