Colombia Speeds Up Plan to Raise “Holy Grail” Wreck’s $20B Treasure
The Colombian authorities has launched an effort to recuperate the misplaced treasure of the Spanish galleon San José, the “Holy Grail of shipwrecks.” The galleon went down within the 18th century and is believed to carry as much as $20 billion price of gold and jewels, however its destiny has been caught up in litigation.
The three-masted galleon San José was in-built 1698 for one of the vital profitable commerce lanes ever devised within the historical past of delivery. In Spanish authorities service, she carried gold, silver and gems from Latin American colonies again to Spain, creating huge wealth for the Spanish Crown.
On June 8, 1708, the San José and her convoy fell prey to 4 warships of the UK Royal Navy. During a chronic battle off Cartagena, San José’s powder journal detonated, and he or she went down with almost 600 passengers and crew on board – and the fabulous treasures in her holds.
The San José was misplaced to historical past till 1981, when an American agency named Glocca Morra mentioned that it had found the wreck web site. However, no restoration mission was mounted, and if it had certainly been discovered, the wreck remained undisturbed.
In 2015, the federal government of Colombia introduced that it had discovered the wreck by itself at a unique web site, with out divulging the key location. Glocca Morra (now often called Sea Search Armada) claims that the Colombian discover is a part of the identical previously-identified particles area, and it has filed an arbitration swimsuit towards the Colombian authorities in an try to win a half share of the treasure.
Images courtesy Armada de Colombia
In an interview with Bloomberg final week, Colombia’s minister of tradition mentioned that the federal government needs to recuperate the galleon by 2026, earlier than the tip of President Gustavo Petro’s present time period. Minister Juan David Correa mentioned that the mission is a “priority” and that the president has referred to as for the ministry to “pick up the pace.”
The plan is to recuperate the wreck’s treasures, research them completely, and switch them to a nationwide museum, Correa mentioned. He added that he believes that the Sea Search Armada case has no benefit.
The authorities of Spain (the useful cargo proprietor and flag state) and the indigenous Qhara Qhara tribe of Bolivia (whose ancestors mined the treasure) additionally consider that they’ve a declare to a share.
