Galeão San José: the first five objects from the most valuable treasure in the world recovered

A cannon, a porcelain cup and three coins. They are just the tip of the iceberg of the treasure worth around 18 billion euros that is sunk somewhere in the depths of the Caribbean Sea.

The Colombian government presented this Wednesday, in Cartagena de Indias, the first five archaeological objects collected from the wreckage of the mythical shipwreck.

The pieces, collected by ships from the Colombian Navy as part of the mission “Towards the Heart of Galeão San José”, were a cannon, a porcelain cup and three coinsannounced the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) in .

They were also collected two porcelain fragments and traces of sediment associated with these five objects, adds the ICANH note.

In June 1708, during the violent War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish galleon San José sank in the Atlantic Ocean, after the ship’s gunpowder exploded, burying a large amount of treasure.

Considered the , the Spanish galleon was at the bottom of the sea for more than 310 years, having been in 2015 near the Colombian coast thanks to an underwater robotic submarine.

According to the former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santosthe cargo of the sunken galleon, which is estimated to be around 18 billion euros in gold and silver coins, emeralds, pieces of glass and porcelain objects, it is “the treasure in the history of humanity”.

In June 2024, Colombia launched a mission somewhere in the depths of the Caribbean Sea.

“This historical fact is a demonstration of the reinforcement of the technical, professional and technological capabilities of the Colombian State to protect and disseminate the Submerged Cultural Heritage, as part of Colombian identity and history”, he declared Yannai Kadamani FonrodonaMinister of Culture of Colombia, mentioned in the statement.

To Alhena Caicedo Fernandezdirector of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History – ICANH, the collection of these archaeological objects “opens the possibility for citizens to get closer, through material testimony, to history of the San José galleon”.

The controversy and history of San José

The ownership of the San José galleon has been object of intense disputes international. Although the wreck was found in Colombian waters, the Spain maintains that the galleon belonged to its fleet and therefore it belongs to you.

The North American company Sea Search Armada also claims a share of the treasury, arguing that located the wreck 42 years agorequiring a 50% share of profits. For their part, the Bolivian indigenous communities they claim the treasures, claiming that they may have been extracted by their ancestors.

The story of the galleon San José dates back to 1698, when it was launched as part of the Spanish Armada and its fleet to trade goods across the Atlantic.

With 64 cannons, three masts and three decks, the galleon participated in the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701, triggered by the death without descendants of Charles II, the famous “Bewitched”.

In June 1708, when it was anchored in Colombian waters, the San José was attacked by a British squadron led by Commander Charles Wager.

According to an article published in 1991 in the Mariner’s Mirror, the Spanish galleon exploded suddenly during the attackcausing the deaths of 600 crew members and leaving only 11 survivors.

The magnitude of the treasure and the legal and cultural complexity surrounding its recovery make it one of the greatest discoveries of all timeonly comparable to finds like Tutankhamun’s tomb.

This time, however, the Colombian authorities do not just want to loot the wealth buried at the bottom of the sea, but to recover it while respecting the integrity of the shipwreck, highlighted the then Minister of Culture of Colombia, Juan David Correa: “a history is the treasure”.