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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 a British fleet.
The recovery is part of a scientific investigation authorised by the government last year to study the wreckage 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 San José was returning to Europe with treasures to help fund the war of the Spanish succession when it was sunk by a British squadron in 1708, close to the Caribbean port city of Cartagena.
The ship, dubbed the “holy grail of shipwrecks,” is believed to hold 11m gold and silver coins, emeralds and other precious cargo from Spanish-controlled colonies, which could be worth billions of dollars if ever recovered.
President Gustavo Petro’s government has said the purpose of the deep-water expedition is research and not the treasure’s seizure.
Colombia’s culture ministry said in a statement on Thursday that the cannon, coins and porcelain cup would undergo a conservation process at a lab dedicated to the expedition.
The wreckage is 600 meters (almost 2,000ft) below the surface.
The prevailing theory has been that an explosion caused the 62-gun, three-masted galleon to sink after being ambushed by an English squadron. But Colombia’s 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 US, Colombia and Spain over who owns the rights to the sunken treasure.
Colombia is in arbitration litigation with Sea Search Armada, a group of US investors, for the economic rights of the San José. The firm claims $10bn, corresponding to what they assume is 50% of the galleon treasure’s worth, that they claim to have discovered in 1982.
