An 18th century Spanish galleon dubbed the “holy grail of shipwrecks” for its storied cache of 11 million gold and silver coins – worth an estimated $20bn (£16bn) – has yielded its first treasures.
The San José, a 64-gun galleon of the Spanish Navy, was sunk by the British in 1708 when her powder magazines exploded near Cartagena, Colombia.
Now a Colombian mission to salvage the wreck has retrieved its first artifacts; a cannon, three coins, and some porcelain.
The recovery forms part of an expedition to the wreck, approved by Bogotá last year, following the rediscovery of the ship in 2015.
The San José lies 600m (almost 2,000ft) below the Caribbean Sea, but its exact location is a state secret, and ownership of the treasure is hotly contested.
It has been the subject of a legal battle in the United States, Colombia and Spain over who owns the rights to the sunken treasure.
Sea Search Armada, a group of American investors, claims to have discovered the ship in 1982, and demands $10bn for its part – estimating this to be about 50% of the treasure’s worth.
Colombia’s government, meanwhile, says the purpose of its deep-sea mission is research and not treasure, and that the artifacts will be preserved and studied.
The coins, known as macuquinas, have been taken to the National Museum of Colombia, while the other finds are being studied and preserved at the Caribbean Oceanographic and Hydrographic Research Center.
The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History said subjecting the artifacts to laboratory analysis could shed new light on the ship’s history.
In a statement, it said: “Each of the archaeological objects collected from the shipwreck opens up the possibilities of discovering more aspects of the history of the San José galleon.
“The direct study of the macuquinas, the porcelain cups, the cannon and the sediment remains associated with these objects will allow us to delve deeper into aspects of the investigation.”
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Areas of study include the composition of the artifacts, the origin of their manufacture, chronology, and production technologies of the time.
The Colombian government is also investigating the cause of the ship’s sinking, and has suggested it could have sunk for reasons other than an explosion, including damage to the hull.
Bogotá says its research project comprises a number of phases, the first of which was a non-intrusive study of the wreck’s archaeological context and debris field.
The newly recovered items were brought up as part of the second phase: collecting artifacts and adapting them for preservation in a non-marine environment.
