Colombia is on a hunt for treasure that’s worth $20 billion – and it’s using robots to recover the loot.
The South American country is launching a government expedition to investigate the ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’, also known as the wreck of the San José.
The San Jose was sunk by the Royal Navy during a battle off Barú Island south of Cartagena, on the country’s Caribbean coast, in 1708.
But it is the ship’s loot, not the wreck, that people are after. At the time of its sinking, the San José is thought to have been carrying around 11 million gold coins, worth in the region of £16 billion – or $20 billion – today.
The coins are thought to have come from the mines of Potosí, Bolivia, and sit in more than 100 emerald-encrusted steel chests.
The ship was launched in 1698, travelling from the New World to the court of King Philip V of Spain
Now, the Colombian government said it is investing around $4.5 million to help surface the treasure, including deploying robots in a matter of weeks.
President Gustavo Petro has made it a ‘priority’ to raise the ship before his term ends in 2026.
Culture minister Juan David Correa said in April and May, a submersible robot will retrieve some artefacts from the surface of the galleon to test ‘how they materialise when they come out [of the water]’.
The government claims the reason for the expedition is for cultural and historical reasons.
‘History is the treasure,’ said Mr Correa.
The shipwreck lies around 600m underwater, but researchers are hoping to use new technology to explore the water around it. So far, sea depth analysis and soil studies are being used to best determine how to extract the bounty.
However, who the booty belongs to has sparked an international catfight.
Spain claims that the treasure is theirs, but Bolivia’s indigenous Qhara Qhara nation has said the treasure should be returned to them after their ancestors were forced to mine it in the 16th Century.
There are two main laws to know when you find treasure from a shipwreck, and it depends if you find it or salvage it
Law of finds Essentially ‘finders keepers, losers weepers’, this law says the finder of the property is entitled to the full monetary worth, so long as the property doesn’t have a declared owner
Law of salvage This law states that if the salvor is working to retrieve lost goods on behalf of the owner they can be compensated with a percentage of the value.
And American firm Glocca Morra, contracted to search for the ship in the 1980s, claims it located the wreck and were granted a percentage of the finds.
The company is now owned by Sea Search Armada, which has sued the Colombian government for $10 billion, or 50% of the estimated value of the wreck.
