Spanish galleon San José
{{Short description|18th-century Spanish treasure galleon}}
{{other ships|Spanish ship San José}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Wager's Action off Cartagena, 28 May 1708.jpg | Ship caption = Explosion of San José during Wager's Action. Wager's Action off Cartagena, oil on canvas by Samuel Scott, 1747 }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Spain | Ship flag = 60px | Ship name = San José | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Pedro Arostegui (contractor), Mapil (Usurbil) | Ship laid down = 1697 | Ship launched = 1698Carla Rahn Phillips, op.cit. | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship captured = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship fate = Destroyed during the Battle of Barú (Wager's Action), 8 June 1708. | Ship honours = | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = Galleon | Ship tons burthen = 1,051 tons Carla Rahn Phillips, op.cit. | Ship length = 71.00 codos (of 418 mm) lower deck length; 60.18 codos (of 418 mm) keel length | Ship beam = 21.91 codos (of 418 mm) | Ship draught = 11.75 codos (of 418 mm) estimated | Ship hold depth = 10 codos (of 418 mm) | Ship sail plan = | Ship propulsion = Sails | Ship complement =
| Ship notes = }} |
San José was a 64-gun, three-masted galleon of the Spanish Armada de la Guardia de la Carrera de las Indias. It was launched in 1698 and sank in battle off Barú Island, just south of Cartagena, Colombia, in 1708, while laden with gold, silver and emeralds worth about US$17 billion as of 2023.{{Cite news |title=The battle for Colombia's sunken treasure |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/08/08/the-battle-for-colombias-sunken-treasure |access-date=2022-11-22 |issn=0013-0613}}
The sunken ship was located at a depth of 600 meters{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190908-a-shipwreck-worth-billions-off-the-coast-of-cartagena#:~:text=a%20great%20legend-,For%20centuries%2C%20the%20San%20Jos%C3%A9%20galleon%20lay%20lost%20on%20the,600m%20deep%20in%20Colombian%20waters. |title = A shipwreck worth billions off the coast of Cartagena |website=www.bbc.com |access-date=2024-02-28 |date=2019-09-09}} by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in November 2015. In July 2017, it was announced that a salvage operation managed by the Colombian government would proceed.{{cite news|title=Colombia to salvage Spanish galleon San José wreckage|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin-america-40523866/colombia-to-salvage-spanish-galleon-san-jos-wreckage|accessdate=6 July 2017|agency=BBC News|publisher=BBC News|date=6 July 2017}}
Career
San José was designed by Francisco Antonio Garrote and built by Pedro de Aróstegui at the shipyard in Mapil, Usurbil, Gipuzkoa, Spain. Construction started in 1697 and ended in 1698. They built twin ships simultaneously and named them San José and San Joaquín.{{cite web |url=http://www.todoababor.es/articulos/sjose_baru.htm |title=El Galeón San José y la batalla de Barú. |last=Gómez |first=Santiago |work=Todo A Babor |date=14 March 2006 |accessdate=2015-12-08 }}
San José and San Joaquín were part of the Spanish treasure fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession, under General José Fernández de Santillán, the Count of Casa Alegre. On its final voyage, San José sailed as the flagship of a treasure fleet composed of three Spanish warships and 14 merchant vessels sailing from Portobelo, Panama, to Cartagena, Colombia. On 8 June 1708, the fleet encountered a British squadron near Barú, leading to a battle known as Wager's Action. During the battle, the powder magazines of San José detonated, destroying and sinking the ship with most of her crew and the gold, silver, emeralds and jewelry collected in the South American provinces to finance the Spanish king's war effort.{{cite news |date=December 8, 2015 |title=Spain says it has rights to Colombian treasure ship |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35036121 |accessdate=2015-12-08}} Of the 600 men aboard, only 11 survived.
Search and discovery
File:doubloon.jpg). 27.07 grams, 91.70% purity]]
The wreck of the San José is estimated to be worth billions of dollars,.{{cite web |url=http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/02/galleon-san-jose-the-holy-grail-of-ship-wrecks/ |title=Galleon San Jose, the 'Holy Grail of Ship Wrecks' |last=Spilman |first=Rick |work=The Old Salt Blog |date=February 29, 2012 |accessdate=2015-12-08 }} This is based on the speculation that, similar to its surviving sister ship, San Joaquín, it had 11 million pesos in coins on board at the time of its sinking, worth up to $17 billion as of 2023. The silver and gold are from the mines of Potosí, Bolivia.{{cite news |last1=Martinez |first1= Michael |last2=Prifti |first2=Alba |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/05/americas/colombia-spanish-galleon-san-jose-found/ |title=Colombia says it found Spanish galleon; U.S. firm claims half of treasure |work=CNN News |date=5 December 2015 |accessdate=2015-12-08 }} The enormous value of this cargo has led to San José being called the "Holy Grail of Shipwrecks".
A group of investors from the United States called Glocca Mora Co., operating under the name 'Sea Search Armada' (SSA) - spearheaded by noted historian Dr. Eugene Lyon, best known for having located and positively identified La Nuestra Senora de la Atocha and others - claimed to have found the shipwreck off the coast of Colombia in 1981. But Colombia says the ship was not at the claimed coordinates, refused to sign a 65%/35% share offer, and refused SSA permission to conduct full salvage operations at the wreck site.{{Cite news |date=2025-02-07 |title=The fight for a legendary shipwreck's treasure : Planet Money |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/01/31/1228085818/san-jose-shipwreck-colombia-spain-ssa-qhara-qharahttps://www.npr.org/2025/01/31/1228085818/san-jose-shipwreck-colombia-spain-ssa-qhara-qhara |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=NPR |language=en}}{{cite magazine |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151218-san-jose-shipwreck-treasure-colombia-archaeology/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218222254/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151218-san-jose-shipwreck-treasure-colombia-archaeology/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 18, 2015 |title=Battle Begins Over World's Richest Shipwreck |magazine=National Geographic |last=Drye |first=William |date=18 December 2015 |accessdate=21 January 2016}} The Colombian parliament then passed a law giving the state the right to all of the treasure, leaving SSA with a 5% finder's fee, which was to be taxed at 45%. SSA sued Colombia Colombian courts in 1989. In July 2007, the Supreme Court of Colombia concluded that any treasure recovered would be split equally between the Colombian government and the explorers. Sea Search Armada subsequently sued in United States courts, but the case was dismissed twice, in 2011 and 2015 on technical grounds, and the galleon was declared the property of the Colombian state.{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/05/spanish-galleon-with-rumoured-1bn-treasure-hoard-found-says-colombias-president | date = 5 December 2015 | accessdate = 5 December 2015 | agency = Reuters | work = The Guardian | title = Spanish galleon with rumoured £1bn treasure hoard found, says Colombia's president}}
On 27 November 2015, the galleon San José was found in a different place by the Colombian Navy, announced by then President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos on 5 December.{{cite web| title=San Jose galleon shipwreck with £1 billion treasure found off Colombia, says President Juan Manuel Santos| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colombias-president-juan-manuel-santos-claims-galleon-shipwreck-with-1bn-treasure-found-a6761471.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/colombias-president-juan-manuel-santos-claims-galleon-shipwreck-with-1bn-treasure-found-a6761471.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website = The Independent|last=Henderson |first=Emma |date=5 December 2015 |accessdate=5 December 2015}}{{Cite web| title = Colombia treasure-laden San Jose galleon 'is found'| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-35014600| website = BBC News| accessdate = 2015-12-05| date = 5 December 2015}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/06/wreck-spanish-galleon-treasure-haul |title=Spanish galleon may contain biggest treasure haul ever found on seabed |work=The Guardian |last=Jenkins |first=Lin |date=6 December 2015 |accessdate=21 January 2016}}{{cite magazine |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151209-spanish-shipwreck-billion-treasure-archaeology/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212104503/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151209-spanish-shipwreck-billion-treasure-archaeology/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2015 |title=Treasure on Sunken Spanish Galleon Could Be Biggest Ever |last=Drye |first=William |magazine=National Geographic |date=9 December 2015 |accessdate=21 January 2016}} The discovery was made using a REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle.{{cite web|title=Hallazgo del Galeón San José - 5 de diciembre de 2015| date=5 December 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ3zSHYPm9c|publisher=Presidency of Colombia|accessdate=6 December 2015}} From the dive photographs, Colombian marine archaeologists{{cite news |url=http://www.elespanol.com/cultura/20151205/84491554_0.html |title=found off the coast of Cartagena de Indias San Jose, a Spanish galleon sunk in 1708 |agency=The Spanish |date=5 December 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314063542/http://www.elespanol.com/cultura/20151205/84491554_0.html |archivedate=14 March 2016 }} have identified San José by her bronze guns cast with dolphins. Colombia has claimed the galleon as part of its submerged patrimony; thus, it is constitutionally obliged to protect and preserve the ship and all of its sunken contents. The government of Colombia has classified the location of the galleon as a state secret.{{cite news |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/holy-grail-of-shipwrecks-found-off-colombia/ |title="Holy grail" of shipwrecks found off Colombia |agency=The Associated Press |work=CBS News |date=6 December 2015 |accessdate=9 December 2015}}
In 2022, Sea Search Armada filed suit at the Permanent Court of Arbitration reasserting its rights to the treasure, claiming that the supposed later Colombian discovery in a new, secret location, was actually in the same location discovered by SSA, and was merely a ruse to invalidate previous claims.[https://pca-cpa.org/cn/cases/300/]
Besides Colombia and Sea Search Armada, other groups also have laid claim to the treasure, including Spain, and indigenous groups from Potosí Bolivia since the treasure was mined by their people at Cerro Rico.{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Luke |date=2024-03-29 |title=Bolivian Indigenous groups assert claim to treasure of ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’ |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/29/bolivia-shipwreck-colombia-treasure |access-date=2025-02-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
Conservation
The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, a government agency ascribed to the Ministry of Culture, is in charge of overseeing all archeological sites in Colombia.{{cite web|title=El Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia tiene las siguientes funciones y objetivos|url=http://www.icanh.gov.co/index.php?idcategoria=1170|publisher=ICANH|accessdate=31 December 2015}} The director of the ICANH, Ernesto Montenegro, has stated that soil and sea depth studies are being carried out in order to examine the methods of extraction of the ship's contents.{{cite news |url=http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/colombia/noticias/hallazgo-galeon-san-jose-grandes-historia-santos |title=Cartagena tendrá museo para preservar piezas del galeón San José: Santos |language=spanish |work=El País |date=5 December 2015 |accessdate=21 January 2016}} Then Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, stated that a museum will be constructed in Cartagena to host some of the contents of the galleon.{{cite news |url=http://www.portafolio.co/economia/galeon-san-jose-construiran-museo |title=Construirán museo para exhibir restos de Galeón San José |language=Spanish |work=Portafolio.co |agency=Reuters |date=5 December 2015 |accessdate=21 January 2016}}
On 16 December 2015, the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia requested that the State keep thorough archives of the exploration, to be given to the Ministry of Culture, the official custodian of underwater cultural heritage. The Inspector General also requested that a representative sample of the coins, ingots, and gemstones, not classified as cultural patrimony due to repetition, be given to the Banco de la República for preservation.{{cite web|title=Procuraduría General de la Nación reitera aspectos que debe tener en cuenta el Estado colombiano para la administración de riquezas como las del Galeón San José|url=http://www.procuraduria.gov.co/portal/Procuraduria-General_de_la_Nacion_reitera_aspectos_que_debe_tener_en_cuenta_el_Estado_colombiano_para_la_administraci_n_de_riquezas_como_las_del_Gale_n_San_Jose.news|publisher=Office of the Inspector General of Colombia|accessdate=31 December 2015}}
The Minister of Culture, Mariana Garcés Córdoba, stated that 2016 will be "a year of exploration, not extraction".{{cite web|title=La ruta que navegará Colombia con el galeón San José en 2016|date=21 January 2016 |url=http://www.vanguardia.com/colombia/344172-la-ruta-que-navegara-colombia-con-el-galeon-san-jose-en-2016|publisher=vanguardia.com|accessdate=21 January 2016}} According to the Minister, Colombia intends to create archaeological laboratories with a variety of specialists to properly study the shipwreck and its contents.{{cite web|title=Colombia investigará este 2016 hallazgos del galeón San José...|url=http://co.r24.co/post/305999|publisher=Reporte24.co|accessdate=21 January 2016}}
In February 2024, Colombian authorities announced plans to recover some items from the wreck.{{cite news | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-24/colombia-recovering-bounty-shipwreck-san-jose-galleon-billions/103507606 | title=Colombia to start recovering bounty from 18th-century shipwreck | newspaper=ABC News | date=24 February 2024 }} In May the first stage of a research project by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History began using underwater robots to gather an inventory of the wreck site.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Cachella |title=Colombia begins exploring 'holy grail of shipwrecks' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nn983qmepo |date=26 May 2024 |access-date=26 May 2024 |agency=BBC News}}
In popular culture
The discovery of the galleon San José inspired Colombian writer Marco T. Robayo to create a historical graphic novel, A la caza del Galeón San José: el naufragio, published by Planeta Colombia in 2022.{{Cite web |last=País |first=El |date=18 April 2023 |title=Las dos obras históricas con las que Marco Robayo llegará a la Filbo |url=https://www.elpais.com.co/entretenimiento/las-dos-obras-historicas-con-las-que-marco-robayo-llegara-a-la-filbo.html |access-date=13 November 2023 |website=Noticias de Cali, Valle y Colombia - Periodico: Diario El País |language=spanish}}
Citations
{{reflist|30em}}
References
- {{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70877945 |title=The Treasure of the San José: death at sea in the War of the Spanish Succession |first=Carla Rahn |last=Phillips |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=2007|oclc=70877945 }}
Further reading
- {{Cite news |last1=Tumin |first1=Remy |last2=Glatsky |first2=Genevieve |title=A Treasure May Be Off the Coast of Colombia, but Who Can Claim It? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/world/americas/san-jose-galleon-shipwreck-treasure.html|date=10 November 2023|access-date=10 November 2023}}
- {{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/06/06/a-battle-royal-over-deep-sea-archaeology-in-the-caribbean|title=A battle royal over deep-sea archaeology in the Caribbean|work=The Economist|date=6 June 2024|access-date=12 January 2025}}
External links
- [https://rgssa.blogspot.com/2019/10/action-off-cartagena-wreck-of-san-jose.html Historical background to the sinking of the San José. Royal Geographical Society of South Australia.]
- [http://www.todoababor.es/articulos/sjose_baru.htm El Galeón San José y la batalla de Barú (Spanish)]
- [https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/01/what-lies-beneath/amp What Lies Beneath] Vanity Fair
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Category:Galleons of the Spanish Navy
Category:Age of Sail ships of Spain
Category:Maritime incidents in 1708
Category:Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea
Category:Treasure from shipwrecks