Today, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos announced that it has found the wreck of the galleon San José, what some have called the “holy grail of shipwrecks.”  He announced the discovery on Twitter.  In June of 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, in a battle with the British, the galleon San José blew up taking a cargo in gold and silver coins as well as a cache of emeralds and most of its crew to the bottom. The treasure has been estimated to be worth today somewhere between $4 billion to $17 billion.

The search for the ship and its treasure has been the subject of considerable controversy. As we previously posted, in 1980, the government of Colombia contracted with a US-based salvage company, Sea Search Armada, to find the wreck. In 1981, the company announced that it had located that ship. Shortly thereafter, the Colombian government changed the terms of the salvage agreement.  The salvor sued in Colombia and US courts. In a ruling in 2011, a US court declared the galleon the property of the Colombian state. Sea Search Armada never revealed the location of the wreck, if they indeed ever found it.  In 2012,  Cecilia Rodriguez, in Forbes, wrote, “No one apart from SSA has confirmed that the ship even exists. I count myself among the many Colombians who don’t believe it’s still there. Yet again, the stuff dreams are made of…”  That dream may come to life if President Santos’ announcement proves to be true.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing along the news.