The San Jose was sunk by the British Royal Navy in 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The ship was carrying a large amount of gold, silver, and emeralds taken from Spanish colonies in Latin America, such as Peru and Colombia, to the King of Spain.
The treasure is estimated to be worth billions of dollars today.
There is an intense legal battle over the ownership of the treasure. The Colombian government argues that it found the wreck in 2015 with the support of international scientists.
However, the US-based marine salvage company Sea Search-Armada (SSA) filed a lawsuit in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, claiming the ship was found by them in the 1980s and demanding approximately $10 billion.
Colombian Minister of Culture Yannai Kadamani Fonrodona described the rescue operation as a “historic event” and stated that it demonstrates the country’s capacity to protect its underwater cultural heritage.
The Director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, Alhena Caicedo Fernández, also said that these findings offer citizens the opportunity to approach the history of the San José with tangible evidence.
The discovered objects were extracted using underwater robots and will now undergo long-term conservation processes in a laboratory setting.
The artifacts will be used in academic studies to provide new data on the economic, social, and political structure of 18th-century Europe.
According to historical records, the San José was part of a merchant fleet called the Flota de Tierra Firme. The fleet, which departed from Peru in 1707, never reached Spain; the San Jose sank off the coast of Colombia the following year after a confrontation with British forces.
Source: CNN International
