BARU ISLAND, COLOMBIA—In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José departed Portobello, Panama, for Cartagena, Colombia, laden with up to 200 tons of treasure consisting of gold, silver, and priceless gems. The San José was the flagship of the Spanish Tierra Firme Fleet, which had been tasked with shipping vast quantities of wealth from the New World to the Spanish Crown. However, the ship was intercepted by British vessels and was sunk off the coast of Cartagena. A decade ago, Colombian authorities announced that they had identified the “world’s richest shipwreck,” but lacked definitive proof that the ship was the San José. The Times reports that a recent investigation by the Colombian navy has gathered the clearest evidence yet that the wreck is indeed the San José. Researchers analyzed images of coins lining the seafloor around the wreck that were taken from remotely operated vehicles. They noticed that some of the coins, known as cobs, bore marks indicating they had been minted in Lima, Peru, in 1707. According to the experts, only one ship would have been carrying a cargo with this currency. “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,” said lead researcher Daniela Vargas Ariza. “The San José Galleon is the only ship that matches these characteristics.” Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read about other notable Spanish shipwrecks, go to "History's 10 Greatest Wrecks... Spanish Armada."
