New Items Were Found in the Holy Grail of Shipwrecks That Sank 300 Years Ago and Held Billions of Dollars in Treasure
The government of Colombia reported Thursday that new artifacts were found on the famous Spanish galleon San Jose. This came after the first robotic exploration of the shipwreck, which happened 300 years ago.
The San Jose was owned by the Spanish crown when it was sunk by the British navy near Cartagena in 1708. It was called the “holy grail” of the sea. Some of the 600 people who worked on it did not make it.
The Colombian government said in February that it would start taking things from the shipwreck off the coast of its Caribbean coast. The wreckage is thought to hold billions of dollars worth of treasures.
“Results of this exploration have revealed an unprecedented set of archaeological evidence, which has greatly expanded our knowledge,” the groups that were in charge of looking into the wreck said in a statement.
The exact location of the wreck has been kept hidden since it was found in 2015. The report said that between May 23 and June 1, a robot surveyed an area “equivalent to more than 40 professional soccer fields.”
“Although a concentration of archaeological remains was detected in 2022 in the area of the shipwreck, the recent exploration has allowed (researchers) to characterize these accumulations in more detail and to discover new isolated elements,” the report said.
There is an anchor and some of the ship’s goods, like jugs and glass bottles, among the new things. The Colombian Navy used high-tech tools during four observation campaigns in 2022 to check on the wreck’s state.
The pictures that were sent showed things that looked like they were made of gold, porcelain, cast iron guns, and pottery.
Officials from the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, quoted in the statement, said, “We think it is possible to find new remains that would add to the information we already have.”
The expedition also showed the “biological diversity on the seabed” near the wrecks, with swordfish and dorsal finless sharks seeing what was there about 2,000 feet below the surface.
“The sinking has created a dynamic and living ecosystem on the seabed, providing shelter and food for diverse forms of marine life,” it said.
The government of Colombia thinks that this first investigation “raises questions about the exact causes of the sinking.”
According to Colombia’s government, British records show that the ship had an “internal explosion,” which would have caused it to sink with its wealth and hundreds of people on board. But Spanish news says there was a fight.
The ship had been going back from the New World to King Philip V of Spain’s court. It was carrying valuable things like emerald boxes and about 200 tons of gold coins.
Adventurers had been looking for the ship for a long time before Colombia reported in 2015 that it had been found.
Under a UN agreement that Colombia is not a part of, Spain claimed the ship and its goods. However, Indigenous Qhara Qhara Bolivians say the wealth were stolen from them.
The project is expected to cost about $4.5 million and is being pushed by Petro’s government in the name of science and culture.
U.S. salvage business Sea Search Armada also claims the wreck. It says it found it first more than 40 years ago and has taken Colombia to the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration to get $10 billion.
The shipwreck spot was made a “protected archeological area” by Colombia in May. The Ministry of Culture said that the designation “guarantees the protection of heritage” by keeping the ship in good shape and allowing more study, conservation, and valuation activities to take place.
The exact position of the shipwreck is being kept secret so that thieves don’t get to what is thought to be one of the most important archaeological finds ever.
The country of Colombia said in June 2022 that a remotely controlled vehicle had reached 900 meters below the ocean’s surface and shown new pictures of the wrecks.