The history of the San José galleon is very special. The ship left the Guipúzcoa shipyards in 1706 to go to the Caribbean Sea. There it was loaded to the brim with gold, precious stones and jewels from the mines of Peru, Bolivia and Mexico. It was an impressive ship, 40 meters long, with 64 cannons and a crew of 600, but it was sunk by an attack by English pirates in 1708, leaving only 10 survivors and that delicious treasure was left in the depths of the sea off the coast of Cartagena.

It is now one of more than 1,500 Spanish ships that have sunk worldwide, but Mexico and Colombia are collaborating to ‘recover’ treasures that have been lying at the bottom of the ocean for over 300 years. With an estimated value of 20 billion, there must be quite a lot of stuff lying on the seabed.

Soap opera. The story of the San José didn’t end when the ship hit the bottom. In fact, it may have just begun. In 1981, the search company Search Armada claimed to have located the Spanish wreck and given the coordinates to Colombia, not Spain. The deal? Access to half the treasure, it was claimed. But in 2015, the Colombian government claimed to have found the remains in a different location than previously stated.

This angered the treasure hunting company, who claimed that this was a strategy so that Colombia would not have to share the treasure. Former president Juan Manuel Santos proudly declared without hesitation that this was one of Colombia’s most important treasures, and everything indicated that the Search Armada would not see a penny of it. Meanwhile, Spain did not sit idle and asserted its sovereignty over the galleon.

That same year, with the wreck still in dispute, the Colombian Chamber of Deputies launched an investigation into former President Santos for “unauthorized entry and plunder” of a Spanish galleon.

“This is not a treasure”The current Colombian government has a different perspective and last May declared the wreck site a protected archaeological site. “This is the first time a submerged archaeological heritage site has been declared at such depths, it is a historical value for Latin America. We already have a special underwater archaeological site,” said Colombian Culture Minister Juan David Correa. Management Plan

The aim, then, is to guarantee the protection and preservation of the galleon, as Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, put it, and the “intrusion and looting” of the Spanish galleon was not limited to the treatment of the wreck. The aim now is to see what the ship carries and to catalog it, which, as Correa himself put it, does not seem to be a treasure-recovery mission: “It is not a landing mission that would bring economic value to Colombia. There is the possibility of a scientific-cultural mission that would have several stages and would start today.”

Mosaic reconstructed from photogrammetry files

Mexico + ColombiaThis is where Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) comes in. In an initiative called “Towards the heart of the San José galleon”, Colombian and Mexican researchers will collaborate to carry out this ‘recovery’ process. Mexico has extensive experience in carrying out archaeological expeditions (with recent examples such as the complete framework of the Mayan Train or the application of new techniques to explore the interior of pyramids or map underground chambers).

The underwater expedition is different, but it has something to say there too. Colombian researchers asked INAH members about their experiences with the Nuestra Señora del Juncal project, a ship that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 1613 and has parallels with the San José expedition. Moreover, there are support programs between Colombia and Mexico for archaeologists who cross-train in both countries, as if it were an Erasmus for archaeology.

Digitize everythingMexico is therefore advising Colombia, but they will also be the ones to explore San José and its surroundings using underwater robots, in a program consisting of four phases:

• First phase (launched May 2024): An underwater research vessel with dynamic and acoustic positioning technologies, as well as a remote operation vehicle with sensors with a mission to reach the site, are being deployed.
• Phase two: images of the area will be created to classify the materials and record archaeological evidence for their origin. It will also be observed how they are distributed on the seabed.
• Third phase: A preliminary conservation diagnosis will be prepared in order to establish starting points regarding the level of deterioration of the elements.
• Phase four: The archaeological context will be digitally documented using photogrammetry techniques for educational purposes.

It seems that Colombia’s plans are clear and, according to the details of the different stages, the aim is not to take everything they find out of the water, but to catalogue it so that we can see the condition of the ship, its cargo after 300 years (as well as the riches it carried when it sank). Of course, they will remove some objects to study on the surface and we will know the results by the end of 2024.

Images INAH, Wikipedia, ICANH

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