Colombia all set to launch exploration of sunken Spanish galleon

Colombia's government on Friday (Feb 23) announced that it would launch an underwater exploration effort in order to investigate and recover artefacts that were discovered on a Spanish galleon that sank in the Colombian Caribbean over 300 years ago.

The officials said that for the exploration mission, they would use an underwater robot guided by the multi-purpose vessel that would gather information about the sunken ship.

The robot would extract items from the outside of the galleon so as to see "how they materialize when they come out (of the water) and to understand what we can do" to recover the rest of the treasures, said Culture Minister Juan David Correa.

The ship called San Jose, which historians believe carried one of the largest unsalvaged maritime treasures, sank in the year 1708 near the historical Caribbean port of Cartagena. The wreckage of the sunken ship was located in 2015.

Colombia is set to invest about $4.5 million in the scientific mission which is set to begin in the second half of 2024.

So far, sonar pictures have revealed weaponry, ceramics, artefacts, and bronze cannons specifically designed for the ship.

The Columbian government on Friday (Feb 23) also said that it had legally started arbitration proceedings with the US company Sea Search Armada, LLC over the patrimonial rights of the ship.

The firm is claiming $10 billion, corresponding to what it alleges is worth 50 per cent of the ship's treasurediscovered in 1982.

Correa said that the scientific mission will enable them to perform inter-institutional work that will help train new generations in the social appropriation of knowledge through scientific research.

"We want to tell the world that this government means to leave behind a legacy for Colombian children and young people to do research in underwater heritage, a science or an area of knowledge that has not been specifically developed around the world," Correa said.

Location of the expedition being kept secret

The expedition's location is being kept a secret in order to safeguard what is regarded as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in history from malicious treasure hunters.

The San Jose galleon, at the time when it was sunk by the British navy in the vicinity of Cartagena in 1708, was owned by the Spanish crown.

Out of the 600 crew members, only a few had survived.

The ship, laden with 200 tons of gold coins and emerald boxes, was returning from the New World to the court of King Philip V of Spain.

Who will get the custody of bounty?

The discovery of the galleon triggered a debate over the custody of its bounty.

Spain pressed that the ownership of the bounty should be theirs as it was aboard a Spanish ship, but Bolivia's Qhara Qhara nation claimed that it should get the bounty as the Spanish compelled the people of its community to mine the precious metals.

The government of leftist president Gustavo Petro wants to use the country's own resources to retrieve the wreck and make sure it stays in Colombia.

(With inputs from agencies)