Plan to get well

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 authorized a plan to get well 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 web site and asset of cultural curiosity, protected by laws and public missionality, is superior,” the Colombian authorities mentioned 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 mentioned.

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

Between April and Could, the robotic would extract some gadgets from “the floor of the galleon” to see “how they materialize once they come out (of the water) and to grasp what we will do” to get well the remainder of the treasures, mentioned Correa.

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

The situation of the expedition is being saved 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 resembling 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 mentioned {that a} remotely operated automobile reached 900 meters under the floor of the ocean, displaying new pictures 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.