Colombia Claim Spanish Treasure Ship Sunk in 1708

San Jose was one of the Spanish galleon involved in the battle of Cartagena in 1708 between British fleet and Spanish armada carrying gold and treasure. When it sunk in the battle, San Jose carried a cargo of gold and silver.

During battle in the offshore Colombia, Spanish lost two of its galleons. San Jose was sunk carrying around 11 millions of gold coins and treasures which are estimated to be worth of $17 billion in today's value. While another one, Santa Cruz was captured by the British. Up to now, the search for San Jose shipwreck has attracted many treasure hunters, due to its loaded cargo.

A group of United States treasure enthusiasts established a team called Sea Search Armada (SSA) and claimed it had found the ship in 1982 off the coast of Colombia. However, Colombian government refused to grant them permission to conduct a salvage operation of the shipwreck. SSA issued the Colombian government in Colombian court in 1989 demanding half of the treasure as theirs.

After a long 15 years of legal battle, the court decided in 2004 that San Jose belong to Colombian people.

Earlier this month, Colombian government announced that they found the San Jose. According to National Geographic News, Minister of Culture of Colombia Mariana Garces-Cordoba said San Jose was not found in the location SSA that claimed has found it in 1982 . The letter was sent to SSA's attorney in Colombia, Danilo Devis Pereira on December 18.

The minister wrote that if the galleon is found at the exact coordinates registered in 1982, the Colombian government will recognize SSA's claim to a portion of the San Jose's treasure."In the absence of any shipwreck within the aforementioned coordinates, we will end this matter," she said.

CBS News reported that according to UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, military shipwrecks belong to their country of origin, regardless of where they went down. However, Colombia is not a signatory of the convention, and the country's law stated that wrecks found in its waters as Colombian national heritage.

On December 5, president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos spoke to the media announcing the discovery of remains of San Jose galleon by Colombian Navy. The Navy used the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to find the location of ship that was sunken 300 years ago. The unmanned submarine was mainly used for exploration and mapping purposes.

Recently, as Miami Herald reported the Anthpropology and History Institute of Colombia (ICANH) has distributed photo showing the remains of San Jose on the sea floor of Cartagena. San Jose was built in 1697 with a 45 meters length and armed with 60 cannons. The 3-masted galleon began its service in Spanish navy a year later in 1698.

The claim of ownership betwen Colombian government and SSA seem to continue. Meanwhile, Spain on the basis of UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage has also claimed right to the San Jose.