Making underwater observations of the Spanish galleon San Jose, which was sunk by the British with a cargo of treasure in 1708, Colombian experts shot a spectacular new video and managed to find two more historic shipwrecks nearby. Radio Nacional de Colombia.
Galleon San Jose is located near the Colombian port of Cartagena de Indias in the Caribbean Sea, at a depth of about 950m, and its exact location is kept secret. The autonomous underwater vehicle carrying out the research discovered two more sunken ships nearby – a colonial ship and a sailboat. It has been suggested that they belong to approximately the same period in history when there was a war for Colombia’s independence from Spain about 200 years ago. According to historians, the San Jose galleon carried billions of dollars worth of treasure and therefore considered the “Holy Grail of treasure hunters”, it sank during the War of the Spanish Succession. The current estimate of the value of the cargo is based on the assumption that this galleon carried 11 million Spanish gold coins, as well as San Joaquin, which had successfully left the war. On June 8, 1708, the Spanish fleet engaged the English fleet near the island of Baru. After an hour and a half of battle at San Jose, the gunpowder stored in the hold exploded and the ship sank rapidly. Of the 600 people on board, only 11 survived, and all the cargo – gold and silver coins, emerald stones and porcelain – went to the bottom.
After more than a decade of litigation involving the Indian community from Spain, Colombia and Bolivia speaking on behalf of the descendants of those who extracted the once-carried treasures, it was decided that the discovered cargo should be divided between treasure hunters and the government. But on December 4, 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos claimed that San Jose was found by the Colombian National Navy.
The resulting images and videos clearly show the coins in the galleon, as well as gold bars, cannons made in Seville in 1655, and a pristine serving of Chinese food. Blue-white plates and bowls are half buried in the mud at the bottom of the sea. Earlier this year, Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramirez announced that all artifacts from the wreckage will be placed in a museum that “will be a source of pride for Colombia, the Caribbean and the world”, but salvaging the wreckage is a technological and scientific process. due to the significant depth at which it is located. But filming the video is seen as a huge achievement for the Colombian fleet, according to Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez, who presented them at a special press conference.