£16bn shipwreck dubbed 'holy grail beneath the waves' will be raised from ocean
A Spanish galleon which has been under the waves for more than three centuries is believed to have treasure onboard worth £16billion - and is due to be brought to the surface.
The San José was part of the fleet of King Philip V when it was sunk by the British Navy in 1708 during the War of Spanish Succession. At the time she was carrying loot including gems, emeralds and millions of gold coins. The shipwreck, currently laying off the Carribean sea close to the walled port city of Catagena, has been described as the “holy grails of shipwrecks” and its secrets could soon be brought to the surface after 316 years under the waves.
The shipwreck will soon be brought back to the surface (Presidencia de la República – Colombia)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution engineer Mike Purcell previously said the San Jose wreck was discovered during a survey of an area off Colombia's Baru Peninsula during a large, coordinated block search. He said: “During that November 2015 expedition, we got the first indications of the find from side scan sonar images of the wreck. From those images, we could see strong sonar signal returns, so we sent REMUS back down for a closer look to collect camera images.
"The wreck was partially sediment-covered, but with the camera images from the lower altitude missions, we were able to see new details in the wreckage and the resolution was good enough to make out the decorative carving on the cannons. MAC’s lead marine archaeologist, Roger Dooley, interpreted the images and confirmed that the San Jose had finally been found.”
The San Jose, went down with 600 people on board during Spain's war of succession against the British, and soon became known as the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks. For three centuries the ship and its treasures were lost at sea until November 2015, when a team from Colombia's archaeology institute discovered the wreck laying on the ocean floor 600 metres below the surface. The ship was found by authorities in 2015 using an autonomous underwater vehicle called REMUS, which has previously assisted to find the wreckage of Air France 447 in 2011 and mapped the Titanic wreck site during a 2010 expedition.
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The ship sunk in 1708 while transporting its precious cargo from America to Spain. The hauls of treasure were meant to help finance Spain's succession against Britain. The historic find has provided the Colombian people with clues to Europe's economic, social and political climate in the early 18th century. The Colombian government plans to build a museum and world-class conservation laboratory to preserve and publicly display the wreck's contents, including its cannons, ceramics and other artefacts.
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