Scientists recover cannon, coins, porcelain cup from 300-year-old Spanish shipwreck
BOGOTA, Colombia — A cannon, three coins and a porcelain cup are among the first objects recovered by Colombian scientists from the depths of the Caribbean Sea, where the legendary Spanish galleon San José sank in 1708 after being attacked by an English fleet, authorities announced Thursday.
The recovery is part of a scientific investigation the government authorized last year to study the wreck and the causes of the sinking. Colombian researchers located the galleon in 2015, leading to legal and diplomatic disputes. Its exact location is a state secret.
The ship is believed to contain 11 million gold and silver coins, emeralds and other valuable goods from Spanish-controlled colonies, which could be worth billions of dollars if ever recovered.
The government of President Gustavo Petro said the purpose of the deep-water expedition was the search and not the seizure of the treasure.
Colombia’s Culture Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the cannon, coins and porcelain cup would undergo a conservation process in a laboratory dedicated to the expedition.
The wreck lies 600 meters (nearly 2,000 feet) deep in the sea.
The prevailing theory is that an explosion caused the 62-gun three-masted galleon to sink after it was ambushed by an English squadron. But the Colombian government has suggested it could have sunk for other reasons, including damage to the hull.
The ship has been the subject of a legal battle in the United States, Colombia and Spain over who owns the rights to the sunken treasure.
Colombia is in arbitration with Sea Search Armada, a group of American investors, for the economic rights of the San José. The company claims $10 billion, which is what it estimates is worth 50% of the galleon treasure it claims to have discovered in 1982.
