Michael Rios (CNN) reports that Colombia has recovered some treasures from a shipwreck called the San José— sunk by the British Royal Navy in the Caribbean over 300 years ago— including coins, a porcelain cup, and a cannon. Rylee Kirk (The New York Times) writes that “the Spanish galleon that was carrying a haul of gold, jewels and other goods when it sank in an ambush near the port city of Cartagena in 1708.” Here are excerpts from CNN.
Colombia has recovered gold and bronze coins, a porcelain cup and a cannon from a sunken Spanish warship dubbed the “holy grail of shipwrecks.”
The artifacts are the first treasures to be recovered from the wreckage of the San José, a Spanish galleon that was sunk by the British Royal Navy in the Caribbean more than 300 years ago. At the time of its sinking, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the San José had been carrying large amounts of gold, silver and emeralds from Spanish colonies in Latin American back to the Spanish king.
Collectively, those treasures are believed to be worth billions of dollars in today’s money, and they are at the center of a heated legal dispute between the Colombian government and a US-based marine salvaging company named Sea Search-Armada (SSA).
Colombia maintains that it discovered the San José in 2015 with help from international scientists, but SSA, formerly known as Glocca Morra, claims to have found the shipwreck in the early 1980s and has launched a legal battle in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, claiming it is entitled to approximately $10 billion – roughly half the estimated value of the shipwreck’s treasure.
The Colombian government says its recovery of the treasures is part of a research project that could provide clues about Europe’s economic, social and political climate during the early 18th century. It also says the galleon is significant to Colombia’s culture and identity.
In a statement Thursday, Colombian Culture Minister Yannai Kadamani Fonrodona described the recovery as a “historic event” that demonstrated the country’s capacity to protect its underwater cultural heritage.
Alhena Caicedo Fernández, director of Colombia’s Institute of Anthropology and History, said it “opens the possibility for citizens to approach, through material evidence, the history of the San José galleon.” [. . .]
For full article, see https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/20/americas/colombia-holy-grail-shipwreck-san-jose-treasures-latam-intl
Also see https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/world/americas/san-jose-shipwreck-galleon-artifacts.html
[Photo above: Colombian Presidency, via Reuters @ The New York Times.]
Michael Rios (CNN) reports that Colombia has recovered some treasures from a shipwreck called the San José— sunk by the British Royal Navy in the Caribbean over 300 years ago— including coins, a porcelain cup, and a cannon. Rylee Kirk (The New York Times) writes that “the Spanish galleon that was carrying a haul of
