Have you heard the one about the sunken treasure ? As if billionaire investor Ray Dalio needed more cash , an sovereign underwater vehicle own by his foundation latterly become up a veritable boatload of Au , flatware and emeralds . But this big fish still has n’t been reeled in . That ’s because there ’s an on-going argumentation over who gets what from theholy grailof shipwreck .
The San Jose is a Spanish ship that was acquit what ’s believe to be $ 17 billion in gem when it was sunk by British forces in 1708 during theWar of Spanish Succession , a conflict over the disputed succession to the can of Spain following the death of the childless Charles II . The ship remains at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea , despite being learn some three years ago .
Researchers on a Colombian naval ship first discovered the remnants of the 300 - year - onetime Spanish ship off the coast of Cartagena in 2015 . The Colombian government then brought in the deep sea explorers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute to confirm that the wreckage was the existent deal . Woods Hole borrowed Dalio ’s autonomous geographic expedition vehicle — the same one that aid convalesce the wreckage of amissing Air France flightin 2011 — to plunk down 2,000 feet ( 610 beat ) below the water system ’s surface and snap exposure of the ship . They find out bronze carom with dolphin engraved on the English , a feature known to distinguish the San Jose .
Among the shipwreck is atreasure troveof cultural artifacts that could lend some insight into South American and European history . That ’s not to name the precious metals and emerald . The San Jose ’s contents ( or at least the money they could fetch on the open securities industry ) is driving an ongoinglegal battle .
If you ’re a devotee of " The Simpsons , " you know that local Springfield attorney Lionel Hutz is doting of quoting the caseful Finders v. Keepers in court arguments . That kind of sums up the public debate over the San Jose . It ask at least two area with title to the loot and one party that says it was involved in the process of bring out the ship .
Custom and Complications
Colombia is exact the San Jose for itself . The government has declined to give out the precise coordinates of the wreckage and only recently allowed Woods Hole to make some basic information about the uncovering uncommitted to the public . Their emplacement is fairly straightforward : The wreck is ours because we set up it within ourterritorial waters . President Juan Manuel Santos signed a law in 2013 that culturally crucial artifact recovered in Colombian waters belong to the Colombian administration .
Spain has another take . The European country notes that the boat was theirs , after all . On the other hand , many of the ethnic artifacts aboard the ship were plundered from natives in fence in South American countries once part of the Spanish imperium , like Venezuela , Peru and Bolivia . At least some of those countries have expressed interest group in getting their hand on the loot .
The trouble is that Colombia is n’t a party to two United Nations treaties on the police of the ocean and security of underwater ethnical heritage . That means external courts are left largely to rely on usance , whichheavily favorsrights for " sword lily states " in similar situation . Several countries — include Spain , the United States , Germany and Russia — have formally take the position that the country whose sword lily is on the recessed ship only lose its rightfulness to what ’s onboard if it formally relinquishes that right . The precedent would seem to ask Colombia to at least get Spain ’s blessing before grabbing the wreck as its own .
And then there ’s a United States sea exploration company , whose literary argument is essentially : We found it first . Sea Search Armada ( SSA ) says it located what ’s depart of the San Jose all the means back in 1982 . The company state it has expend some $ 13 million over the last three tenner , first trying bump the San Jose and then working to establish its claim to the sunken booty through the Colombian sound organization . SSA claims it had a deal with Colombia to split the treasure before it situate the ship , but the country scrapped the arrangement after SSA actually find oneself the wreckage .
The problem for SSA is that the Colombian courts have n’t bought that tilt yet . Although the company tried to action in a Union court in Florida , the judge there tell the causa was filed too recently . Meanwhile , a Union appeals judicature conclusion rejecting a Florida salvage society ’s claim to$500 million in Spanish coinsrecovered in a shipwreck off the coast of Portugal may very well have meant tough news program for SSA had the slip continue stateside .
What that mean is the luck of the San Jose — at least from a sound position — is about as clear as the clay it rest in . Still , that ’s not cease the Colombians from trying to rise the ship . Santos recently say the land is fielding offer tosalvage the wreckageand plans to exhibit many of the artifacts in a museum .
