Colombia announces the discovery of two vessels near the galleon San José, sunk in the 18th century

the president of ColombiaIván Duque, announced this Monday that they found two boats near the area where the Spanish galleon San José is, sunk off Cartagena de Indias in the 18th century by English corsairs and whose wreck was found in 2015.

“We have already found two additional vessels: a boat that is from the colonial period and another that, from the point of view of preliminary analysis, corresponds to the republican period of our history”, said Duke in a statement.

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In addition, he assured that they have “history of around a dozen similar vessels”, whose location they are investigating with Navy teams.

President explained that they bought “equipment in recent years to be able to go deep and have the best images” and, at the same time, protect “the integrity of the treasure” until the extraction can be carried out, the rescue of which is up for bid.

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“In recent years, with these technologies we have been able to reach a level of precision never seen before,” he said. Dukewho added that these teams have also served to carry out explorations “where there was previous preliminary information of possible shipwrecks in similar times” and thus have reached the location of these two vessels.

These teams also made it possible to verify, according to the commander of the Navy, Admiral Gabriel Pérez, that “the area where the San José Galleon is located had not been intervened in any way by anthropic means or by the hand of man.”

The General Maritime Director, José Joaquín Amézquita, also explained that other finds have been discovered in the photographs of the San José Galleon, such as intact crockery from the time, with the galleon’s insignia, or details of the cannons made in Seville and Cádiz on the year 1655.

There are also macuquinas (the coin minted by hand in Spanish America), a gold ingot and the crew’s swords. “What we are talking about is an important wealth that has a lot to tell us about our past,” said Amézquita.

THE CASE OF SAN JOSE

The San José was sunk by a fleet of English corsairs on June 8, 1708 when it was on its way to Cartagena de Indias loaded, according to chronicles of the time, with nearly 11 million gold and silver eight-escudo coins that it had collected in the fair of Portobelo (Panama).

After the announcement of the discovery of the wreck, in December 2015, disputes arose between Colombia Y Spain because the latter argues that, because it is a “state ship”, it is protected by the rules of the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (Unesco) to claim its ownership.

The current Colombian government has assured that it will not pay the rescue of the San José with the assets found in the wreckas the Administration of President Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) had foreseen.

To rescue the Saint Josephthe previous Colombian Executive launched a contracting process through a public-private alliance that would be paid mainly with pieces rescued from the wreck, but the Administration of his successor, Ivan Dukesuspended it for fear that national heritage may be lost.

The tender for this alliance was declared void last March because, once again, the Government of Duke He pointed out that his priority was to preserve it “as a protected cultural heritage” and he does not want to hand over part of the heritage as payment.

After declaring this call void, the Government will make a new one with international experts and archaeologists to make a contract for the extraction of the galleon.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.