Unthinkable find inside 18th century Spanish shipwreck
Historians have made a stunning discovery inside an 18th century shipwreck.
Archaeology
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It was the “one that got away”. It became the “Holy Grail” of shipwrecks. Now, decades after treasure hunters claimed to have found its remains, the identity of the $26 billion Spanish galleon San José has been confirmed.
The treasure fleet flagship exploded amid a fierce Caribbean battle with the British navy in 1708.
Now, verification that the wreck’s been found is likely to inflame a fierce four-way legal battle between the governments of Colombia, Spain, treasure hunters and indigenous Central American peoples.
Who owns the estimated 180 tonnes of gold, silver, and uncut gemstones it was carrying?
Valuations vary between the raw material and collector’s value of the cargo. But estimates say the galleon was carrying some seven to 10 million Spanish gold pesos worth as much as $A26 billion.
It’s that same treasure that has blown the 300-year-old wreck’s cover.
Colombia’s navy sent robotic diving vehicles 600m to the sea floor to scan the galleon’s scattered remains between 2021 and 2024. They found piles of gold coins strewn among bronze cannons, timber beams and blue-and-white porcelain.
Now a study released Tuesday (June 10) reveals the results of a high-resolution survey of just one of these treasure patches.
It captures dozens of rough-cut gold coins in exquisite detail.
“Hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins — known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish — served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries,” lead researcher Daniela Vargas Ariza says in a statement.
They average about 3cm in diameter. That equates to roughly 27 grams of solid gold each.
And their stamped designs remain crisp and clear.
The front displays a distinctive Jerusalem cross with heraldic lions and castles. On their backs, they carry an imprint of the “Crowned Pillars of Hercules (representing the Straits of Gibraltar) above the waves of the sea”. The study’s authors also found some carried a distinctive assayer’s mark, a royal “quality control” stamp assessing the gold as pure.
Historical references link these designs and marks to a Spanish mint operating in the colonial town of Lima (now the Capital of Peru).
A wealth of troubles
Commander José Fernández de Santillán was the man who lost the Kingdom of Spain a royal fortune.
But the battle over the treasure has never ended.
Two British Royal Navy Captains were stripped of their jobs for failing to secure the treasure galleons.
The US salvage company Glocca Mora (Sea Search Armada) claims to have found the galleon’s remains in the 1980s.
Colombia went on to find the wreck for itself in 2015. It has staked a claim as the treasure rests within its national waters.
Spain insists it’s still their royal warship, despite being sunk, and an internationally protected war grave.
And indigenous groups from Bolivia and Peru have also stepped in, insisting the gold, silver and gems had all been stolen from them in the first place.
“This cargo belongs to our people – the silver, the gold – and we think it should be raised from the sea bed to stop treasure hunters looting it,” Qhara Qhara people representative Samuel Flores told media. “How many years have gone by? Three hundred years? They owe us that debt.”
The whole issue is now grinding through the legal processes of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
It’s a messy case.
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does not address shipwrecks. A follow-up resolution in 2001, the UNESCO Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001 Convention, has not been signed by Columbia or the US.
All of this would have been moot if the wreck had not been that of the San José.
A dolphin emblem seen on the bronze cannons strongly indicates it is. But identifying the coins as those being carried by the galleon at the time it was sunk has put to rest any doubt.
“The finding of cobs created in 1707 at the Lima Mint points to a vessel navigating the Tierra Firme route in the early eighteenth century. The San José Galleon is the only ship that matches these characteristics,” the study concludes.
Fortunes of war
Commander Santillán was to sail his force of three heavily armed galleons as escort for a convoy of 14 merchant ships from Portobelo in Panama to Havana, Cuba, where a larger fleet was assembling to cross the Atlantic to Spain.
His merchant ships were carrying mixed trade goods. But some 250 tonnes of royal gold and treasure was loaded aboard Santillán’s flagship, the heavily protected (64 gun) galleon San José. What did not fit was moved to the similarly sized San Joaquin. And the galleon Santa Cruz appears to have been tasked with protecting a Spanish entrepreneur’s personal fortune.
It was the job the galleons were built for.
But Commander Santillán ignored warnings a larger British force had been spotted in the Caribbean. He was worried the approaching hurricane season would force him to miss his Havana rendezvous.
The Spanish treasure fleet spotted the sails of Commodore Sir Charles Wagner’s squadron as it passed Cartagena in modern-day Colombia. By 5pm on June 8, 1708, Santillán had positioned his heavily armed galleons to cover the retreat of his helpless cargo ships.
The 60-gun HMS Kingston engaged the San Joaquin (64 guns). After two hours of battle, the galleon evaded a boarding attempt and escaped into the growing darkness.
HMS Expedition (70 guns) singled out the San José (64 guns). It closed to point-blank range for its marines and sailors to swarm aboard. After an hour and a half of battle, a British cannonball penetrated San José’s thick timber walls to reach its gunpowder magazine. The galleon exploded and immediately sank.
Despite the onset of darkness, the British squadron found the 44-gun Santa Cruz by moonlight. This time, the boarding attempt was successful, costing the British 14 and the Spanish 90 lives.
Then, shortly after dawn, San Joaquin was spotted again. HMS Portland (50 guns) and Kingston were ordered to give chase. But, after exchanging several salvos of cannon fire, the Spanish galleon reached the protection of Cartagena harbour – as did the merchant ships. The two British captains decided not to risk the port’s defences.
Commodore Wager became a rich man (and an Admiral) from his victory. Britain offered a generous Prize Law to its naval crews, allocating them a portion of the value of any cargo or ships they captured.
But he – and the Crown – were well aware untold wealth had slipped through their grasp.
Captains Bridges of HMS Kingston and Windsor of HMS Portland were, therefore, court-martialed and dismissed from the service for failing to “carry out their duty”.
Almost 1000 Spanish sailors lost their lives in the battle. Only 11 of San José’s 600 crew and passengers survived the explosion. Commander Santillán went down with his ship.
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social
Originally published as Unthinkable find inside 18th century Spanish shipwreck
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