Plan to get better “holy grail” of shipwrecks holding billions of {dollars} in treasure is permitted over 3 centuries after ship sank

Greater than three centuries after the legendary San Jose galleon sank off the coast of Colombia whereas laden with gold, silver and emeralds, the nation has formally permitted a plan to get better the wreck and its treasures, officers introduced this week.

Dubbed the “holy grail” of shipwrecks, the 316-year-old wreck has been controversial because it was found in 2015, as a result of it’s each an archaeological and financial treasure —  estimated to be value billions of {dollars}.

“For the primary time in historical past, a mannequin of complete public administration of the archaeological website and asset of cultural curiosity, protected by laws and public missionality, is superior,” the Colombian authorities stated in a information launch Tuesday.

Colombian will make investments greater than $1 million within the restoration course of, which is anticipated to get underway subsequent month, officers stated.

Final month,  Tradition Minister Juan David Correa instructed Agence France-Presse that an underwater robotic can be sent to get better a few of its bounty.

Between April and Might, the robotic would extract some objects from “the floor of the galleon” to see “how they materialize after they come out (of the water) and to know what we will do” to get better the remainder of the treasures, stated Correa.

The robotic will work at a depth of 600 meters to take away objects corresponding to ceramics, items of wooden and shells “with out modifying or damaging the wreck,” Correa instructed AFP aboard a big naval ship.

The situation of the expedition is being stored secret to guard what is taken into account one of many best archaeological finds in historical past from malicious treasure hunters.

The San Jose galleon was owned by the Spanish crown when it was sunk by the British navy close to Cartagena in 1708. Solely a handful of its 600-strong crew survived.

The ship had been heading again from the New World to the court docket of King Philip V of Spain, laden with treasures corresponding to chests of emeralds and a few 200 tons of gold cash.

Earlier than Colombia introduced the invention in 2015, it was lengthy wanted by treasure hunters.

The expedition to start out recovering the shipwreck’s trove comes as a case is underway on the UN’s Everlasting Courtroom of Arbitration between Colombia and the U.S.-based salvage firm Sea Search Armada — which claims it discovered the wreck first over 40 years in the past.

In June 2022, Colombia stated {that a} remotely operated automobile reached 900 meters under the floor of the ocean, displaying new photos of the wreckage.

The video confirmed the best-yet view of the treasure that was aboard the San Jose — together with gold ingots and cash, cannons made in Seville in 1655 and an intact Chinese language dinner service.

On the time, Reuters reported the remotely operated automobile additionally found two different shipwrecks within the space, together with a schooner regarded as from about two centuries in the past.