By Charles Penty

(Bloomberg) — In 1708, the Spanish flagship San Jose was sunk by a British squadron close to the port of Cartagena, in what’s modern-day Colombia, taking down with it about 600 souls and a treasure {that a} U.S. salvage group says could also be price as a lot as $17 billion.

More than three centuries after the broadside from a Royal Navy ship despatched the San Jose to the underside of the Caribbean, Colombia’s announcement this month of the invention of the vessel has sparked a battle for the spoils, pitting Spain towards its former colony and the bounty-hunting salvage firm.

Spain is urgent its claims to the gold after the Colombian authorities mentioned it meant to carry on to the treasure. The battle has implications for Spain past this case. At stake are its potential rights to the spoils in tons of of shipwrecks on ocean flooring relationship from the times of its colonial empire.

“The legend that has grown up around San Jose and its treasure means it has become one of the most famous of all shipwrecks,” mentioned Miguel San Claudio, the director of Archeonauta SL, a agency of underwater archaeologists primarily based in La Coruna, Spain. “Spain is one of the countries with one of the greatest underwater historical legacies and it does have rights.”

Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Garcia- Margallo has mentioned he hopes any dispute with Colombia over the San Jose could possibly be resolved in a pleasant method with each governments respecting one another’s proper to defend their pursuits.

Coins, Jewels

Still, the galleon “belonged to the state, was the result of war and was not a private boat,” he instructed reporters on Dec. 7. Spain’s Navy archivists have documented about 1,600 wrecks with greater than a 3rd traced to the Americas and 1 / 4, just like the San Jose, relationship from the 18th century.

Sea Search Armada, a Bellevue, Washington-based marine salvage group, says the galleon was carrying cash and valuable metals mined and smelted in Peru. The San Jose with its 64 weapons fell prey to the British squadron led by Commodore Charles Wager because it sought the protection of the Caribbean port of Cartagena , in response to an account of the occasions on the Facebook web page of Sea Search Armada.

The galleon’s gunpowder exploded earlier than the British might board it, inflicting a wall of water that swamped the gun ports of the Wager’s ship, the Expedition. The San Jose rapidly sank, taking down with it a cargo of bullion, cash, jewels and commerce items that will have exceeded Spain’s annual nationwide revenue from all sources on the time, in response to the account.

Spain’s Rights

“Spain does not need or have an interest in getting the treasure for its monetary value but it does have rights in the case,” mentioned Archeonauta’s San Claudio. “There were many Spaniards from both Spanish and American shores on board.”

Spain is a signatory to a 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization conference geared toward defending underwater archaeological websites which are coming beneath elevated menace as bettering diving expertise means extra wrecks floor. There could also be greater than 3 million undiscovered shipwrecks unfold throughout ocean flooring across the planet, in response to Unesco.

The conference prevents the industrial exploitation and dispersion of underwater cultural heritage and within the San Jose’s case would imply its treasures couldn’t be bought off for revenue, mentioned San Claudio.

Colombia, nevertheless, nonetheless hasn’t signed the conference.

Earlier Victory

Spain scored a notable victory in protection of its sunken galleons in 2012 when it gained the return of 594,000 silver cash after a U.S. Federal Court tussle with Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., a deep-sea treasure-hunting firm primarily based in Florida.

The Spanish authorities mentioned Odyssey had taken the cash, in addition to some artifacts, from the stays of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a 34-gun frigate that was attacked and sunk by the British navy off the coast of Portugal in 1804. Spain repatriated 17 tons of the cash, which could possibly be price as much as $500 million, packed into 551 white plastic buckets on board two Hercules navy transport planes.

It could also be tougher for Spain to win the San Jose case, mentioned Henry Kamen, a Barcelona-based historian who examined the episode as a part of his research of the War of the Spanish Succession. In addition to the truth that the Colombian navy discovered the wreck in their very own territorial waters, it doesn’t essentially observe that the Spanish authorities of the day was the precise proprietor of the cargo, he mentioned.

Tough Fight

“For political reasons, the Spanish government automatically lays claim to all Spanish wrecks anywhere in the world,” Kamen mentioned. “In the end the decision of who has rights to the cargo will be political.”

Spain doesn’t have a lot of a case, Rodolfo Segovia, a former Colombian public works minister and historian, mentioned in an interview with the nation’s Caracol radio. “The position of Spain is weak,” he mentioned.

Another claimant to San Jose’s treasures is Sea Search Armada, which says it found the wreck website after mounting a salvage operation with the permission and participation of the Colombian authorities. It alleges the Colombian authorities then reneged on an settlement to share the proceeds of any recovered treasure.

For now, Colombia is laying declare to the spoils. President Juan Manuel Santos mentioned artifacts from the galleon shall be housed in a brand new museum to be inbuilt Cartagena. While Colombia is keen to share the historic treasure with the remainder of the world, there’s no query who its rightful proprietor is, the president mentioned on Dec. 8.

“Many owners are now appearing,” Santos mentioned. “No sir — this is the patrimony of Colombians.”

©2015 Bloomberg News

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