Spanish Galleon Found After 307 Years

“I feel very pleased, as head of state, to inform Colombians that undoubtedly, without a doubt of any kind, we have discovered the galleon San Jose, 307 years after it sank, Santos said in a statement at Cartagena”. In a news conference on Saturday, Santos said the government would build a museum to display the findings, with sonar images so far showing cannons, arms, ceramics and other artifacts, according to Reuters.

Colombia has found the wreck of a Spanish galleon that is thought to hold treasure worth £1 billion.

Ernesto Montenegro, with the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History and the lead researcher on the team, said there “was no doubt” about the identity of the galleon.

The galleon was the main ship in a treasure fleet carrying gold, silver and other valuable items from Spain’s American colonies to King Philip V.

But he bristled at the suggestion that experts located the underwater grave anywhere different from the area adjacent to the coordinates Sea Search gave authorities three decades ago.

“It’s a scientific event that reminds us that Colombian history is constituted by events of very different eras protagonised by thousands of people who make up our national memory”, he said.

The value of the San Jose’s treasure, believed to include gold, silver, emeralds, and other precious cargo – has been estimated at more than US$10 billion, with a range of US$4-$17 billion often invoked.

Ownership of the wreck has been the subject of a long-running legal row.

The biggest find, and the most sought after, was the San Jose, he said.

The San Jose has been described as the holy grail of shipwrecks by maritime experts due to amount of valuable and rare materials it was carrying when it was downed by British warships.

The government later reversed its agreement and said any proceeds would belong exclusively to Colombia, prompting a lawsuit from SSA.

In the 1990s, Colombian courts ruled that the nation had the rights to everything considered “cultural patrimony” salvaged from the wreck, while e the rest of the treasure should be split 50-50 with Sea Search Armada.