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(Image credit: ARC-DIMAR 2022/Vargas Ariza et al. Antiquity 2025 )
New information of gold coins discovered off the coast of Colombia around the “world’s richest shipwreck” confirm they are from the Spanish galleon San José, a treasure ship that sank in 1708 throughout a cannon battle with British warships.
The galleon was packed with as much as 200 lots (180 metric heaps)of gold, silver and uncut gems when it sank, and the treasure’s modern-day worth might be as high as $ 17 billionLive Science formerly reported.
Colombia’s federal government intends to recuperate a few of the artifacts for a devoted museum that is yet to be developed. There are opposing complaintants, consisting of the Spanish federal government, which asserts the wrecks of its marine vessels, no matter how old, stay the residential or commercial property of Spain.
The authors of a brand-new research study, released Tuesday (June 10) in the journal Antiquityconsist of scientists from Colombia’s navy and other Colombian authorities. Their analysis consisted of studying images taken by from another location run automobiles (ROVs) of lots of rough coins that now lie spread around the wreck at a depth of approximately 1,970 feet (600 meters).
In 2015, Colombia’s federal government revealed that it had situated the San José in the Colombian Caribbean near the city of Cartagena, and the observations were made throughout 4 ROV explorations to the wreck in 2021 and 2022.
According to the research study, the observations validate that the coins and the close-by wreck particles are from the 1708 wreck of the San José.
Related: Gold mine of gold and gems recuperated from a 366-year-old shipwreck in the Bahamas
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The ROV dives in 2021 and 2022 exposed lots of unique gold cobs at a number of areas within the wreck, surrounded by other artifacts. (Image credit: ARC-DIMAR 2022/Vargas Ariza et al. Antiquity 2025)
Sunken gold
The scientists explain seeing lots of rough gold coins– the overall number is not understood– at a number of areas within the shipwreck, surrounded by other artifacts from the freight, weapons and daily life as it was on board more than 300 years back.
They utilized high-definition photography to carefully take a look at the coins and identified that they had a typical size of 1.3 inches (32.5 millimeters) and a most likely weight of 27 grams (about 1 ounce).
The ROV images exposed the coins’ styles. One side has a variation of a Jerusalem cross– one big cross surrounded by 4 smaller sized crosses– and a guard embellished with castles and lions. On the back, these coins reveal the “Crowned Pillars of Hercules above the waves of the sea,” with the waves being special to the Lima Mint, the scientists composed in the research study.
They likewise kept in mind that some bore unique marks that had actually been inculcated the metal, consisting of the marks of an assayer– a professional who evaluates the pureness of metal– from the Spanish mint in Lima, now the capital of Peru, in 1707.
By cross-referencing their observations with colonial records, the scientists identified that the coins and other artifacts originated from the San José, the research study stated.
Research study lead author Daniela Vargas Arizaa maritime archaeologist at Colombia’s Almirante Padilla Naval Cadet School in Cartagena and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History in Bogotá, stated these colonial Spanish coins were frequently cut from silver or gold ingots.
“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,” she stated in a declaration.
The “cobs” made in Spanish colonial mints in the Americas were hand-struck coins, frequently irregularly formed and cut from silver or gold ingots. (Image credit: ARC-DIMAR 2022/Vargas Ariza et al. Antiquity 2025)
Wealthiest shipwreck
The San José wreck is among the most important ever discovered, and there are extreme legal disagreements about who deserves to recuperate it– although it’s not understood if that’s possible. Colombia hopes a few of the treasure might be offered to spend for the historical healing effort of the whole ship, however Colombian law might forbid offering anything considered a historic artifact.
Spain likewise declares the shipwreck and all of its treasure, under a global convention on the Law of the Sea that mentions the wrecks of marine vessels come from their initial country. Colombia hasn’t validated that convention, and critics state the arrangement is meant to safeguard contemporary warship innovations, not centuries-year-old treasure wrecks.
The San José was leading a treasure fleet of 18 ships from Cartagena bound for Europe on June 8, 1708, when it was assaulted by a squadron of 5 British warships; Britain was Spain’s opponent throughout the War of the Spanish Succession at that time.
The 3 biggest Spanish galleons fired back with their cannons, however the San José exploded and sank when its shops of gunpowder blew up; the majority of the Spanish fleet got away to security in the harbor at Cartagena.
Tom Metcalfe is a self-employed reporter and routine Live Science factor who is based in London in the United Kingdom. Tom composes generally about science, area, archaeology, the Earth and the oceans. He has actually likewise composed for the BBC, NBC News, National Geographic, Scientific American, Air & & Space, and lots of others.
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