For hundreds of years, human beings have killed, battled, and left a wake of destruction in an attempt to possess the earth’s riches.
When ships carrying those precious treasures fell victim to storms and naval battles, the hunt for the riches turned to the sea. Recently, 1 country claimed to have found the most famous of all shipwrecks, long thought to be lost at sea forever. Unsurprisingly, an international battle has broken out because of what was on board…
Searching For Shipwrecks
In November 2015, Columbia invited the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a Massachusetts-based institute known for its expertise in deep water exploration, to help them search for shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea.
Exploration Experts
WHOI, who helped find the wreckage of Air France 447 off the coast of Brazil 2 years after it crashed in 2009, agreed to help and set out on the Columbian Navy’s ARC Malpelo, a research ship, that November and brought along their autonomous underwater vehicle called the REMUS 6000…
2,000 Feet Below
On November 27, the researches sent out the REMUS 6000 to survey the area they were searching that day. Later that day, the underwater vehicle’s sonar imaging detected a sunken vessel in about 600 meters, or almost 2,000 feet, of water.
A Closer Look
“During that November expedition, we got the first indications of the find from side scan sonar images of the wreck,” WHOI expedition leader Mike Purcell said. “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 Initial Findings
The REMUS was sent down to the ship and stopped about 30 feet above it, which was close enough to get some photographs the shipwreck while not disturbing the site. At first, the crystal-clear images showed dozens of cracked teacups and ceramics.
A Stunning Detail
“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,” said Purcell. Yet as the REMUS continued to photograph the wreckage, researchers saw something that stopped them dead in their tracks…
The Telltale Carvings
Research engineer Jeff Kaeli was on duty at the time and stopped the REMUS when he spotted the ship’s cannons. “The resolution was good enough to make out the decorative carving on the cannons,” Purcell said about the moment they realized what they had discovered.
The Holy Grail
Kaeli looked closely and was able to find dolphin engravings on the cannons, which was a distinctive detail on a Spanish ship, the San José, which is often called the ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’. “I just sat there for about 10 minutes and smiled,”Kaeli said…
The Search Is Over
“I’m not a marine archaeologist, but I know what a cannon looks like. So at that moment, I guess I was the only person in the world who knew we’d found the shipwreck,” Kaeli said about the groundbreaking discovery, which treasure hunters had spent hundreds of years searching for.
Loaded With Treasure
The San José was a Spanish galleon, a large multi-deck ship first used by the Spanish as armed cargo carriers, that had been loaded with gold, silver, and emeralds. According to historians, the treasure was meant to fund Spain fight against Great Britain in the 13-year-long War of the Spanish Succession…
A Doomed Journey
However, the treasure never made it. On June 8, 1708, the San José sunk just off the coast of Columbia. Even though the ship was loaded with 62 guns and 600 crew, it didn’t stand a chance after it encountered a British warship.
A Lone Voyage
The San José, which had been loaded with precious gems and metals from mines in Peru, would normally have been surrounded by a fleet of warship for protection. Yet when the fleet was delayed, fleet commander Admiral José Fernandez de Santillan decided to set sail for Europe anyway…
Outnumbered And Overpowered
That decision would end being extremely costly. While sailing off the coast of Columbia, the San José encountered 4 British ships, which outnumbered and overpowered the Spanish ship. During the attack, the San José’s powder magazine was hit and it quickly sunk with all 600 crew members and the treasure.
Lost To The Sea
Because of how quickly the San José sank, the large treasure was lost to the ocean before the British could take it. For the next 300 years, the treasure, estimated to be the most valuable ever lost at sea, was left relatively undisturbed on the seafloor off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia…
The Estimated Value
Today, the treasure on the San José is worth $17 billion, which is why researchers were speechless when they finally found it. However, the incredible discovery wasn’t made public until now after the Colombian government gave the agencies that helped with the search permission to announce the news.
A Secret
“We’ve been holding this under wraps out of respect for the Colombian government,” said WHOI’s vice president for marine facilities and operations, Rob Munier. However, even after the announcement, officials still haven’t shared the exact location of the discovery…
The Battle Begins
Part of the reason to keep the location a secret is to protect it because the San José is still sitting on the ocean floor. The other reason officials have decided to keep the location a secret is because the discovery has started an international battle over who the treasure belongs to.
Ownership Disputes
In the aftermath of the discovery, countries and private organizations, including Spain, who owned the ship, Colombia, whose waters the ship sits in, and an American salvage company called Sea Search Armada, who claims to have found and registered the shipwreck in 1982, have come forward to dispute the ownership…
Rightful Owners
Other experts believe that other South American countries like Peru and Bolivia will make claims to the treasure since the precious gems and metals were originally taken from them in the first place. For now, the San José remains at the bottom of the sea until it can be decided what will be done with the treasure and who it rightfully belongs to.
Worth More Than Money
According to Colombian officials, their hope is to build a new conservation lab and museum to salvage the treasure instead of letting a piece of history be exploited. “The San José discovery carries considerable cultural and historical significance for the Colombian government and people because of the ship’s treasure of cultural and historical artifacts and the clues they may provide about Europe’s economic, social, and political climate in the early 18th century,” WHOI added.
Battle Begins Over ‘Holy Grail Of Shipwrecks’ Because Of What’s On Board is an article from: LifeDaily