For centuries, a £16-billion treasure trove of gold, silver and emeralds was lost beneath the waves of the Caribbean.
But now researchers believe they have identified the “holy grail of shipwrecks”.
The rich treasures of the Spanish galleon San Jose appeared to have been gone forever after they were sunk by the Royal Navy in 1708.
A squadron commanded by Charles Wager, who would go on to serve as the First Lord of the Admiralty, intercepted the treasure fleet near Baru Island, off Cartagena, Colombia, and attacked, detonating its powder magazines and sending it to the seabed.
The treasure was being transported from Peru to Spain to fund the War of the Spanish Succession against Britain and its allies.
Gold and silver coins, pearls and gems, claimed to be worth as much as £16 billion in current prices, sat aboard the San Jose.
The ship’s sinking dented the Spanish effort in the war, which ended with Britain gaining Gibraltar, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Academics in Colombia now claim to have confirmed that a wreck found off the South American country’s coast in 2015 is the San Jose.
Using underwater drones, they photographed cargo scattered on and around the wreckage of a ship found on the seafloor near Baru Island in 2015.
Analysis of the images found silver coins – minted in 1707 with the hallmarks of the mint at Lima, Peru – among the wreckage.
Other finds included Chinese porcelain from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) and inscriptions on cannons that dated to 1665.
These finds suggest the wreckage is of a ship that sank in the early 18th century.
“This body of evidence substantiates the identification of the wreck as the San José Galleon, a hypothesis that has been put forward since its initial discovery in 2015,” the academics found.
“The finding of cobs created in 1707 at the Lima Mint points to a vessel navigating the Tierra Firme route in the early 18th century. The San José Galleon is the only ship that matches these characteristics.
“This find presents a rare opportunity to explore an underwater archaeological site and deepen our understanding of colonial maritime trade and routes.”
The analysis will likely deepen a battle over the legal ownership of the wreckage.
Claims have been made by Colombia, Spain, Peru, indigenous communities in the area, descendants of miners who dug up the treasure, and Glocca Morra, the treasure-hunting firm, which says it found the wreck as far back as 1981.
Glocca Morra’s new owners, Sea Search Armada, insist that the galleon was found within a mile or two of the coordinates of its 1981 discovery.
