Colombia speeds up recovery of $20 billion treasure under the sea

San Jose warship wreck believed to hold $20 billion in treasure

Colombia is pushing ahead with efforts to salvage $20 billion worth of gold, silver and precious stones from a shipwreck that sank three centuries ago, even as American treasure hunters are suing for half of the haul, the New York Post reported on November 6.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered the creation of a public-private partnership or an agreement with a private company to salvage the wreck of the San Jose from the bottom of the Caribbean Sea as soon as possible.

Colombian Culture Minister Juan David Correa said this is one of the priorities of President Petro's term. Accordingly, the leader wants to salvage the wreck before his term ends in 2026, although it is unclear whether this is feasible.

When it was sunk by the British in the Battle of San Jose in 1708, the Spanish warship San Jose was armed with 62 guns and was carrying a treasure hoard of six years, including gold and silver from mines in Peru, chests full of Colombian emeralds and many gold and silver coins worth millions of pesos.

This is the estimate of American historian Carla Rahn Phillips, although no one knows for sure how much the treasure is worth. However, in cases that have lasted for decades, the treasure is estimated to be worth between 4-20 billion USD.

Undersea cannons that the Colombian government says are from the wreck of the San Jose

In 1981, an American company, Glocca Morra, said it had found the wreck of the San Jose and handed over the coordinates in exchange for half of the treasure.

In 2015, then-Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the Colombian Navy, working with a company called MAC, had found the shipwreck in another location.

Those coordinates are a state secret, but the company Sea Search Armada took over from Glocca Morra later claimed that the 2015 expedition had found part of the wreckage area they had previously discovered.

The company has brought its case to arbitration in London under the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, and is seeking $10 billion, or half of its assets.

Minister Correa said the case was unfounded, as the Colombian government had gone to the coordinates provided by the company and concluded that there was no wreck there.

Regarding future plans, he said the government wants to set up an archaeological laboratory to clean, study and store items found from the wreck before displaying them in a national museum.

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