San Jose Holy Grail Shipwreck

On 8 June 1708, the Spanish galleon San José sank off Barú Island near Cartagena, Colombia, after a battle with a British squadron while carrying gold, silver, and emeralds now valued at about 17 billion dollars. For more than 300 years, the wreck remained lost, until the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, working with the Colombian Navy, located it in November 2015, about 600 meters below the surface off the Colombian coast. Because of the immense value of its cargo, researchers and officials began calling San José the Holy Grail of shipwrecks. The Colombian government has treated the site as state patrimony, keeps its exact location secret, and continues to study the wreck amid ongoing legal disputes over ownership.

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