Galleon San José: what will be a complex operation in Colombian waters to recover the first treasure from a legendary ship that sank 300 years ago

Based on historical documents, it is believed that the galleon was carrying tons of cargo, gold, silver and precious stones.

“The galleon passed through the port of Portobelo in Panama, where trade goods coming from the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Caribbean were exchanged,” Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), told the BBC. Mundo.

“We know that a part of the treasury was collected during the Viceroyalty period. We also think that there are some illegal trade lines that participate in this shipment, smuggling and other things,” he added.

The galleon was declared a property of cultural interest in Colombia in 2020, which is why the government protects it Its value cannot and should not be calculated In monetary terms.

“I think that for a large part of Western societies value has been equated with price. But there are some issues, like the issue that brings us together today (the galleon), that, in my view, have huge value Which is priceless,” Culture Minister Juan David Correa said in Cartagena last Friday, February 23.

In any case, an American treasure hunting company that claims to own part of the galleon has estimated that the treasure could be worth approximately 20 billion US dollars,

However, what is known about the cargo the galleon was carrying comes from archival sources and could not be directly confirmed at the site of the shipwreck.

In 2022, the National Navy and the National Maritime Directorate of Colombia carried out the first non-intrusive exploration of the galleon, thanks to which its images became known, in which cannons, some coins and some Chinese tableware could be seen.

“What we can identify are jars, pots, syringes, glasses, porcelain, some coins, those types of materials that speak of life on the ship,” Caicedo explains.

One aim of the new research project is to gain greater certainty and detail about what is in the galleon at a depth of 600 metres.

According to Culture Minister Juan David Correa, this exploration will be carried out between April and May 2024. Remotely operated robots will be used Of Swedish design and British construction which would land in the galleon and recover some of the pieces more superficially arranged in the wreck.

The objective is to see how these pieces react when released into water.

“Once they are removed from the water, they are materials that are very weak, because they have been subjected to very significant pressure for 300 years and then they can be completely different” Alhena Caicedo explained to BBC Mundo.

“We need to guarantee that we know how to handle these types of materials, how to stabilize them, how to preserve them so that, if at some point we want to hold an exhibition, we have There should be pieces that are not destroyed in this effort,” he added.

The fragments will be studied in a laboratory in Cartagena and, in the medium term, consideration will be given to the construction of a museum.

At the moment, Colombian authorities have ruled out the possibility of the galleon carrying large amounts of gold and silver.

The robot that will land in the galleon will be operated from here ARC CaribbeanA ship that the Colombian state purchased from a Chinese shipyard in 2017 for US$13 million.

“Our ship has the ability to withstand waves, wind and all movements present in the sea in six directions to hold on to a precise point, as the exploration requires that the robot can be at a depth of 600 meters. Connected to the hand and eye of the operator,” Admiral Hermann Lyon explained to the EFE agency.

This operation will be a coordinated effort of the Ministry of Culture, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, the National Navy (ICANH) and the National Maritime Directorate, all public institutions.

This represents a change compared to initial plans that the Colombian state made during the government of Juan Manuel Santos to create a public-private alliance, which involved dividing the galleon’s treasure and giving part of the treasure to the exploration company. Payment was considered. ,

The first phase of the investigation, which will be conducted in 2024, will cost the state approximately US$4.5 million,

In addition to providing information about the fragments present in the galleon and extracting the first fragments from the water, the exploration intends to be a source for defining a long-term archaeological management plan for the remains and declaring a protected archaeological area.

According to Caicedo, this is important because threat of robbery It exists, that is, unauthorized people like pirates or treasure hunters access it and loot it.

Since the wreck was found, the coordinates of the galleon have remained a Colombian state secret.

Based on new information known about what lies at the bottom of the ocean, “Columbia hopes to obtain answers to many scientific research questions about the submerged history of maritime trade between the Americas and Europe in the early 18th century, ” They say. A statement from the Ministry of Culture.

A dozen experts grouped into the University Network of Submerged Cultural Heritage expressed criticism of the government as they believe the archaeological management plan for the galleon is critical “Gaps” and “inconsistencies”.

According to academics, there is no “reasonable scientific justification” for removing the pieces of the galleon and it goes against the principle of in-situ conservation that ICANH itself has suggested applying.

They affirm that currently the removal of the galleon’s wreck is an “imperative” that “takes precedence over any scientific, technical and management process, with the archaeological management plan being more of a formality to be completed than decisions already taken. It is only by the present government.

Furthermore, they point out that “No details have been mentioned, nor have data been presented from the seasons conducted between 2015 and 2016 by Maritime Archeology Consultants, the firm that discovered the treasure, thereby ruling out possible interference on the wreck.” It may also happen.”

This was the company that signed a contract with the state during the government of Juan Manuel Santos to exhume the galleon remains, although the subsequent government of Iván Duque decided that they would not proceed with the agreement.

ICANH director Alhena Caicedo clarified to BBC Mundo that, on the advice of the State Legal Defense Agency, the current research project could not take into account any reports on galleons produced by the firm at that time.

At the same time that the government announced this ambitious deep-sea scientific research, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague formally launched An international dispute between Colombia and the Sea Search ArmadaAn American company for Galleon.

Sea Search Armada says it found the wreckage first off Colombia and is demanding US$10 billion, which it calculates is equivalent to half the galleon’s value.

The director of the state’s National Legal Defense Agency, the body charged with defending Colombia in the case, described the claim as “Bizarre” and “Trivial”and added that “the coordinates given by the plaintiff are not the coordinates where the galleon is.”

Colombian law states that the galleon is “indivisible, inalienable and cannot be confiscated.” But Since its discovery there has been no end to the dispute over who is its owner.

In 2015, Spain’s Foreign Minister said that “Spain will not release the galleon because it is a state ship.” However, both governments have maintained their intention to achieve an amicable and diplomatic resolution of the dispute.

On 23 February, the Spanish ambassador to Colombia said he received instructions from his country’s government to offer Colombia “the possibility of working on a bilateral agreement to create a new paradigm in terms of the protection of underwater heritage”. Are.

Although she reiterates that the galleon belongs to Colombia, Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, says that “there are other dimensions of the heritage that have to be considered, such as the symbolic dimension.”

“We recognize and want to recognize that we share history with many other peoples, we share that history of the Galleons especially with Spain, with Bolivia, with the people of the old New Kingdom of Granada, with many social We share with the actors who we want to share with,” he explains.

The Bolivian indigenous Qahara Qahara community also claims part of the galleon, arguing that the gold and silver it transported was obtained through violence and exploitation from the Potosí mines.

“This is a legacy that we all have to look at with curiosity. “Everyone is invited,” Minister Correa concluded.