Is San Jose shipwreck greatest marine treasure ever discovered?

The San Jose shipwreck discovery is said to be the most valuable maritime treasure ever found

This 1998 image provided by RMS Titanic, Inc., shows a 17-ton portion of the hull of the RMS Titanic as it is lifted to the surface during an expedition to the site of the tradegy. The piece along with 5,000 other artifacts will be auctioned as a single collection on April 11, 2012 100 years after the sinking of the ship. (AP Photo/RMS Titanic, Inc.)

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos has called the discovery of the sunken San Jose galleon “the most valuable treasure found in the history of humanity”. It seems a big claim, but could well be true. Estimates say the wreck of the ship which sank in 1708 with a hold crammed with gold and jewels could be worth as much as $US17 billion, far exceeding the nearest competitor, the $US500 million treasure on a ship found by Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007.

Odyssey Marine’s Black Swan

Odyssey Marine Exploration is one of the world’s best known salvagers of ocean shipwrecks. In 2007 the company exported 17 tonnes of treasure out of Gibraltar from a wreck site it had discovered off Portugal. Codenamed the Black Swan, there were no remnants of the actual ship and so the team concluded the treasure might have been from an English merchant ship that sank in 1641. But Spain laid claim to the treasure saying it was from the Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes that sank in 1804. After a lengthy court case Spain was awarded the treasure. It was handed over in 2013.

Antikythera ship

In 1900 off the Greek island of Antikythera sponge divers discovered the wreck of a first century Roman ship. Salvage efforts revealed treasure aboard the vessel, estimated to be valued at as much as $160 million but perhaps the most valuable object was a piece of Roman-era technology. Known as the Antikythera Mechanism, it consists of bronze cogs and gears housed in a wooden box. Reconstructed versions of the mechanism show that it was used to predict certain astronomical events.

A fragment of the Antikythera Mechanism. Picture: AP

SS Central America

In California’s gold rush of the 1850s ships took gold from California to Panama City where it was loaded on to trains to be transported to ships headed for New York. Between 1852 and 1857 S.S. Central America took one third of the gold from California to New York before it sank during a hurricane with $US2 million in gold (equivalent to more than $50 million today) on board. The loss rocked American financial markets, contributing to a panic. The ship was rediscovered in 1988 but the discoverers fought insurance companies which had lost money on the wreck in 1857 and claimed a right to a share. The discovery team got to keep more than 90 per cent.

Belitung wreck

In 1998, fisherman in the Gelasa Strait near the Indonesian island of Belitung discovered the wreck site of an extremely old ship. Unable to mount their own salvage operation they sold the location of the wreck to a salvage company. It turned out to be the wreck of a 9th century Arab dhow that sank on its return journey from China. The ship contained medieval Tang Dynasty Chinese artefacts estimated to be worth $US80 million, but it also yielded information on the construction of ships from the period as the only example ever found in modern times.

Santa Margarita

The Spanish ship Santa Margarita sank in a storm in 1622, while carrying riches taken from Spain’s possessions in the New World. While some of it was officially registered there was also a large portion of unregistered contraband treasure smuggled aboard to avoid taxes. The loss of this ship’s treasure, and that on board Nuestra Senora de Atocha in the same year, caused serious problems with cashflow in Spain. In 1624 a salvage attempt was made by the mayor of Havana Francisco Nunez Melian, who was allowed to keep part of the treasure but had to give a third to the king of Spain. Melian invented his own diving bell and hired pearl divers to bring up some of the treasure. However, a major portion of the gold and other riches remained behind until the ship was rediscovered in 1980. Since then about $US16 million in treasure has been recovered and more is still being found.

Silver coins and rosary beads salvaged from the wreck of the Spanish galleon Santa Margarita.

RMS Titanic

Despite persistent rumours that there was a secret cargo of gold bullion aboard the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic there is no proof that it carried anything more than normal mail and cargo. However, when it sank in 1912, it took with it precious jewellery and other items carried by passengers, some of whom were very wealthy. After decades of searches the wreck was finally found by an international team including American Bob Ballard in 1985. Since then many items of jewellery have been recovered, along with more mundane articles such as crockery, their value increased immeasurably by the fact that they were found aboard the famous wreck. An auction of 5500 objects in 2012 netted more than $200 million but many items are still to be recovered.

A fob watch recovered from the wreck of Titanic.

Originally published as Is San Jose shipwreck greatest marine treasure ever discovered?