The Colombian government has ordered the recovery of what is considered to be the 'Holy Grail of shipwrecks' that is believed to contain treasure worth roughly $20 billion.
Officials said that the San Jose, which was sunk by the British navy in 1708 off the port of Cartagena, would need to be recovered as a matter of urgency. The vessel is believed to have sunk while carrying a massive amount of treasure, including 200 tons of silver, emeralds, and 11 million gold coins.
Colombia To Recover 'Holy Grail of Shipwrecks'
When the wreck was discovered in November 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that the ship's treasure was the "most valuable that has been found in the history of humanity. The San Jose was located by a team of navy divers as it lay 3,100 feet below the surface of the ocean.
Photographs taken of the shipwreck by navy divers showed that it was still perfectly preserved despite lying on the ocean's floor for more than three centuries. The Colombian government also said that the vessel would be brought above water before President Gustavo Petro ends his term of office in three years, as per The Independent.
At the time that the shipwreck is recovered, it is expected that there would be a dispute as to who should lay claim to the bounty. Glocca Morra, a United States salvage consortium, claimed to have located the San Jose in 1981.
However, the Colombian government has disputed this, saying that it independently found the galleon with a team of divers in 2015 at a different location, which remains secret. On the other hand, Glocca Morra said that it is owed $10 billion and that it has handed over the coordinates of the shipwreck to Colombian authorities.
The company is also suing the Colombian government for half of the treasure onboard the San Jose and the arbitration case is currently being heard in London. But Colombian Minister of Culture Juan David Correa said that the government's team visited the coordinates given by Glocca Morra and did not see any trace of the San Jose.
Treasure Worth Roughly $20 Billion
He added that the recovery of the shipwreck is one of the priorities of the Petro administration, adding that the leader has ordered to pick up the pace with recovery efforts. Prior to sinking to the bottom of the ocean, the San Jose was sailing from Portobelo in Panama in a fleet of 14 merchant vessels and three Spanish warships, according to the Hindustan Times.
The dispute for the treasure is between Spain, Colombia, and Bolivia's indigenous Qhara. The latter had laid claims to the treasure on the vessel, adding that the Spanish had forced their ancestors to mine the precious metals on the San Jose.
The galleon sank along with its 600 crew members to some 2,000 feet under the surface of the ocean. It was built in 1698 by Duke Aristides Eslava and was the flagship of Spain's treasure fleet. The San Jose would routinely travel between Peru and Spain during the war while carrying gems and precious metals, said the New York Post.
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