The Colombian government announced in a statement last Thursday, Dec. 21, that it is planning to recover incredibly valuable sunken treasure from the 1708 shipwreck of the San José Galleon this coming year, as reported by the Associated Press.
The three-century-old wreck, often dubbed the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks, is thought to hold billions of dollars worth of archaeological artifacts comprising 116 steel chests filled with emeralds, gold and silver coins, and other precious cargo collected from Spanish colonies of the time.
In the statement, Colombian Minister of Culture Juan David Correa shared that the initial attempts will take place between April and May of 2024, with considerations on the final date mainly based on the oceanic conditions in the Caribbean by the time of the search.
Following a meeting with the current president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, Correa said that the San José Galleon is "an archaeological wreck, not a treasure." He added by saying that this "scientific expedition" provides the country with an opportunity to stand at the "forefront of underwater archaeological research."
As per the minister, the plan involves the material being sampled from the shipwreck through the utilization of a robotic submersible, which will then be brought to a nearby navy vessel to be analyzed. The results of this initial analysis will determine if a following expedition will be set.
Controversies Surrounding the Shipwreck
In a 2015 interview with Live Science, Stanford University archaeologist Justin Leidwanger said that the exploration of the San José galleon, which sank 300 years ago following a navy battle with British ships, is a controversial subject due to the notion that "one is not supposed to intervene in war graves."
"Can you pluck treasure off the seabed without disturbing a war grave? I doubt you can. But these are the sort of discussions that will be had," he added.
At the time, further efforts to examine the wreck were held back by the mounting legal and diplomatic disputes that arose upon its discovery, including legal battles in the US, Colombia, and Spain revolving around the rights to the shipwreck's artifacts.
In 2018, these disputes came to a peak when Colombia's plans to excavate the galleon were halted following a private firm's claim that it possessed the salvage rights as per a 1980s agreement with the country's government.
That same year, UNESCO weighed in on the issues and wrote a letter to Colombia that requested the country to not commercially exploit the shipwreck as it "would cause the irretrievable loss of significant heritage."
The Colombian government has yet to sign the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which would subject the country to international standards, and consequently, it would require Colombia to report to UNESCO regarding its plans concerning the wreck.
The exact location of the San José shipwreck was found three years ago through the use of autonomous submersibles, but it is currently being protected as a state secret. That said, the wreck is known to have sunk around Colombia's Baru peninsula, just south of the city of Cartagena.
