Back in 1707, a ship laden with treasure was bound for Cartagena, Colombia, when it was attacked and sank.
This was the legendary Spanish galleon San José, considered one of the world’s most fabled, or reportedly “richest” shipwrecks.
Since its discovery in 2015, this ghost ship of the deep has undergone intense scientific scrutiny. Now, new details from gold coins found scattered around the wreck have definitively confirmed its identity.
The findings offer compelling evidence that this is indeed the San José Galleon—the lost flagship of one of the Hispanic Monarchy’s most vital cargo fleets.
When it sank, the ship was carrying a treasure trove of gold, silver, and uncut gemstones, weighing up to 200 tons (180 metric tons). Reportedly, this treasure’s estimated present-day value could be a whopping $17 billion. However, the exact number of rough gold coins remains unknown.
The coins lie scattered at roughly 1,970 feet (600 meters) deep off Colombia’s coast near the city of Cartagena.
Attacked by the British warships
Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Spanish fleets regularly transported valuable royal cargo from American territories to the Iberian Peninsula.
A key example was the Flota de Tierra Firme, which specifically linked Cadiz (Spain) with important South American hubs like the New Kingdom of Granada (Colombia) and the Viceroyalty of Peru.
“The Tierra Firme Fleet, commanded by the San José Galleon, held the exclusive monopoly on transporting royal treasures between South America and the Iberian Peninsula,” stated Daniela Vargas Ariza, lead researcher from the Escuela Naval de Cadetes Almirante Padilla and Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia—ICANH in Colombia.
In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José met a violent end as it came under attack by British warships. Live Science reported that in a devastating explosion of its gunpowder stores, the magnificent San José sank off the Colombian coast.
In 2015, Colombia’s government announced it had located San José near Cartagena.
Later, Colombia’s navy carried out four expeditions in 2021 and 2022, employing remotely operated vehicles.
This led to the identification of several unidentified gold coins lying on the seabed. Moreover, the shipwreck lay surrounded by artifacts from its cargo, alongside guns and items from daily life.
Corroborating historical records strongly suggest these coins were part of a significant treasure dispatch from Peru that year.
“Coins are crucial artifacts for dating and understanding material culture, particularly in shipwreck contexts,” said Vargas Ariza. “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.”
Symbols on coins
Using high-resolution digital images captured by the underwater vehicle, researchers employed photogrammetry to create precise three-dimensional reconstructions of the coins.
This extensive examination, along with other sources, allowed researchers to definitively pinpoint that the coins were minted in AD 1707 in Lima, present-day Peru.
The research team successfully identified key symbols on the coins’ surfaces.
The distinct heraldic symbols of the crowns of Castile and Leon confirmed the ship’s Hispanic origin.
This evidence firmly confirmed the shipwreck‘s identity as a Hispanic galleon that sank sometime after 1707.
But this incredible discovery comes with intense legal disputes. Colombia’s government aims to recover artifacts from the shipwreck for a future museum. However, Spain disputes this, claiming ownership of its naval vessels’ wrecks regardless of age.
The findings were published in Antiquity.