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A new study reveals details of gold coins discovered on a wreck off Colombia, providing further evidence that the ship is the San Jose Galleon, a 300-year-old Spanish warship that is thought to contain billions of dollars worth of artifacts.
Scientists used unmanned underwater vehicles to investigate the shipwreck and took some images of the cargo, according to a survey published in Journal Antiquity on Tuesday.
Photogrammetry was then used to perform a three-dimensional reconstruction of the coin, revealing the kingdom of the cross and crown of Jerusalem and the crown of Leon.
They also discovered a symbol in 1707 indicating that the coin was minted in Lima, Peru, and proved that a shipwreck had occurred since that day.
Historical records show that San Jose was part of the shipping fleet known as the Flota de Tierra Firme.
It was one of many ships in the fleet that left Peru in 1707, carrying a large amount of royal cargo, but records show that they did not reach Spain, and in 1708 it sank Colombia following a battle with the British forces.
Researchers say they are reinforcing the case where the coin is actually San Jose, known as the “Holy Grail of Shipwreck.”
“The rigid, irregularly shaped coins known as the English cob and Spanish cobs have served as the main currency in America for more than two centuries,” said Daniela Vargas Aliza, the lead investigator of Daniela Vargas Aliza at the National Institute of History and Anthropology in Colombia (ICANH), in a statement released Tuesday.
“The Tierra Farm fleet, commanded by San Jose Galleon, held an exclusive monopoly on transporting royal treasures between South America and the Iberian Peninsula,” she said.
“The discovery presents an unusual opportunity to explore underwater archaeological sites and to deepen our understanding of maritime trade and routes in the 18th century,” says Vargas Ariza.
Research author Jessu Alberto Aldana Mendoza, an archaeologist specializing in underwater cultural heritage, told CNN, “It’s very surprising to see them during our research and be able to analyze them very closely.”
The project “we were able to link archaeological materials to historical documents, so we were able to study artifacts on the site like never before,” he added.
Since sinking, the ship has been unobstructed off the coast of Cartagena, a Caribbean port city, despite the historical importance of the artifact, worth an estimated $17 billion for a multi-billion-dollar legal battle.
The Colombian government claims it was the first to discover San Jose in 2015 with the help of international scientists, but that claim has been challenged by a US marine rescue company named Sea Search-Armada (SSA), known as Glocca Morra, who previously claimed to have discovered the shipwreck in the early 1980s.
The SSA has launched a legal battle with the Colombian government in the International Court of Permanent Arbitration, claiming it is eligible for around $10 billion. This is half the estimated value of a wreck treasure. The Colombian government is challenging the SSA’s claims.
