Stunning underwater photos have brought researchers one step closer to confirming the location of the ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’.
The San José, a Spanish ship, sunk in June 1708 after an attack by the British Royal Navy off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia.
At least 200 tonnes of gold, silver, gems, jewellery and other treasures collected in Spain’s South American colonies were being shipped to King Philip V to finance his war of succession against the British.
Spain and Britain were fighting the War of the Spanish Succession.
But the huge hoard, thought to be worth about £14.8billion ($20billion) in today’s money, went down with the ship and only 11 of its 600 sailors survived.
The Colombian navy claimed it found the San José wreck in 2015, but evidence of its identity was limited – but new research published this week provides the strongest evidence yet that they are correct.
The study, published in the Antiquity journal, includes pictures taken by remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) examining the shipwreck which rests about 1,970ft below the surface.
The high-quality images, using advanced underwater imaging and high-resolution scans of the coins, revealed the date the coins were struck.
The coins, known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish, feature the mark of Lima, Peru. Some are stamped with the royal symbols of Castile and León, the emblems of Spain’s empire.
Crucially they are dated 1707, which is the year the San José set sail.
Archaeologist Daniela Vargas Ariza, of Colombia’s Naval Cadet School and the National Institute of Anthropology and History, explained: Hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries.
‘This body of evidence substantiates the identification of the wreck as the San José Galleon.
‘The finding of cobs created in 1707 at the Lima Mint points to a vessel navigating the Tierra Firme route in the early eighteenth century.
‘The San José galleon is the only ship that matches these characteristics.’
In 2023, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he would raise the wreckage before his time in office ends in 2026.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Canary Islands hit by fourth power cut in only weeks
MORE: Scientists who say there’s a ‘secret city’ under Giza pyramid have now ‘found a second one’
MORE: ITV drops all episodes of mystery drama full of ‘dark twists’ for free
