Colombia to start recovering bounty from 18th-century shipwreck
Colombia’s government announced an expedition to remove items of ‘incalculable value’ from the wreck of the legendary San Jose Galleon, which sank in 1708 while laden with gold, silver and emeralds estimated to be worth billions of dollars.
Culture Minister Juan David Correa told AFP that seven years after the discovery of the wreck off Colombia’s coast, an underwater robot would be sent to recover some of its bounty.
Between April and May, the robot would extract items from the outside of the galleon to see “how they materialise when they come out (of the water) and to understand what we can do” to recover the rest of the treasures, said Correa.
The operation will cost more than US$4.5 million and the robot will work at a depth of 600 metres to remove items such as ceramics, pieces of wood and shells “without modifying or damaging the wreck,” Correa told AFP aboard a large naval ship.
After three centuries submerged underwater, most items on board have undergone ‘physical and chemical’ changes and could disintegrate when pulled out of the water, said Captain Alexandra Chadid, a Navy researcher.
The location of the expedition is being kept secret to protect what is considered one of the greatest archaeological finds in history from malicious treasure hunters.
The San Jose galleon was owned by the Spanish crown when it was sunk by the British navy near Cartagena in 1708. Only a handful of its 600-strong crew survived.
The ship had been heading back from the New World to the court of King Philip V of Spain, laden with treasures such as chests of emeralds and some 200 tons of gold coins. Before Colombia announced the discovery in 2015, it was long sought after by adventurers.
The discovery of the galleon sparked a tug-of-war over who gets custody of its bounty.
Spain insisted that the bounty is theirs since it was aboard a Spanish ship, while Bolivia’s Qhara Qhara nation said it should get the treasures as the Spanish forced the community’s people 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 remains in Colombia.
The idea is “to stop considering that we are dealing with a treasure that we have to fight for as if we were in colonial times, with the pirates who disputed these territories,” he added.
Spain’s ambassador to Colombia Joaquin de Aristegui said he has instructions to offer Colombia a “bilateral agreement” on the protection of the wreck.
Bolivia’s Indigenous people have expressed their willingness to work with Petro’s government and have now asked for the return of only a few pieces from the ship.
“Not only for the symbolic issue but more for the spiritual issue,” native leader Samuel Flores told AFP.
“We just want our ancestors to be at peace.”
The expedition to start recovering the shipwreck’s trove comes as a case is underway at the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration between Colombia and the US-based salvage company Sea Search Armada – which claims it found the wreck first over 40 years ago.
The company is demanding US$10 billion dollars, half the wreck’s estimated value today.