2437) Did You Know Series (68): "The Treasure Ship - San José", Colombia: "The Holy Grail of Shipwrecks" which was sunk with an enormous treasure on board by the British Navy during the Spanish War of Succession fought during 09.07.1701 - 07.09.1714:
The Treasure Ship - San José:
Gold Doubloons and Pieces of Eight? That appears to be what looked like the watery grave of the Spanish Galleon San José, a ship sent to Davy Jones’ Locker by the British Navy during the War of Spanish Succession.
About San José Galleon:
San José was a 64-gun, three-masted galleon of the "Spanish Armada de la Guardia de la Carrera de las Indias".
It was launched in 1698, and sank in battle off Barú Island, just south of Cartagena, Colombia, in 1708,
At the time of its sinking, the ill-fated "treasure ship" was carrying more than 200 tons of emeralds, gold, and silver coins. The value of this treasure has been estimated at perhaps as much as $17 billion (as on 2022).
San José was designed by Francisco Antonio Garrote and built by Pedro de Aróstegui at the shipyard in Mapil, Usurbil, Gipuzkoa, Spain.
Construction started in 1697 and ended in 1698.
They built twin ships simultaneously and named them "San José" and "San Joaquín".
"San José" and "San Joaquín" were part of a Spanish Treasure Fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession, under General José Fernández de Santillán, the Count of Casa Alegre.
On its final voyage, San José sailed as the flagship of a treasure fleet composed of three Spanish warships and 14 merchant vessels sailing from Portobelo, Panama, to Cartagena, Colombia.
On 08.06.1708, the fleet encountered a British squadron near Barú, leading to a naval battle known as Wager's Action.
During the battle, the powder magazines of San José detonated, destroying and sinking the ship with most of her crew and the gold, silver, emeralds and jewelry collected in the South American colonies to finance the Spanish King's war effort. Of the 600 people on board, only eleven survived.
San José - The estimated Treasure on board at the time of its sinking:
The silver and gold were from the mines of Potosí, Bolivia. The enormous value of this cargo has led to San José being called the "Holy Grail of Shipwrecks".
In July 2017, it was announced that a salvage operation managed by the Colombian government would be undertaken as the wreck lay in Colombian waters.
The wreck of the San José is estimated to be worth about $17.00 billion as of 2022, based on the assessment that it had up to 11 million 4-doubloons (i.e. 11 million 8 escudos gold coins, or 11 million coins each of 27 grams of 92% gold, totaling 8.8 million troy ounces AGW, and many silver coins on board at the time of its sinking, similar to its surviving sister ship, San Joaquín. The gold coins on the San Jose have been identified as "Macuquinas".
Macuquinas:
Macuquinas are cob coins, that were minted by rolling gold or silver to look similar to a long corn cob, then lobbing off the appropriate amount of metal to serve as a planchet when the coin was struck.
Water powered roller dies and punch technology were involved in this minting process. Such coins are crude in appearance, but quality was not an objective when producing these coins.
More about Cobs which are the original "Treasure Coins.":
Struck and trimmed by hand in the 16th through 18th centuries at Spanish mints in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia (among others), silver and gold cobs are handsomely crude, nearly all with a cross as the central feature on one side and either a coat-of-arms (shield) or a tic-tac-toe-like "pillars and waves" on the other side.
Silver cobs are known as "Reales" and Gold cobs are known as "Escudos", with two 8 reales (about 27 grams each) equaling one escudo.
Some cobs were struck with a date, and most show a mintmark and an initial or monogram for the assayer, the mint official who was responsible for weight and fineness.
Size and shape were immaterial, which means that most cobs are far from round or uniform in thickness. Cobs were generally accepted as good currency all around the world, and were the exact coins pirates referred to as "Pieces of Eight" (8 Reales) and "Doubloons" (any gold cobs but originally 2 Escudos).
Their design and history have made cobs a very popular choice for jewelry.
The Potosi Mint was the last to establish this advanced technology, making cobs until 1772.
The Discovery of the San José wreck by the Colombian Navy:
On 27.11.2015, the galleon San José was found by the Colombian Navy.
The discovery was made using a REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle.
From the dive photographs, Colombian marine archaeologists have identified San José by her bronze guns engraved with dolphins.
State-of-the-art equipment produced images of the wreck at an estimated depth of 3,280 feet. Inscriptions on cannons indicate the cannons were cast in Seville and Cádiz, both in Spain, in 1655. The camera images also identified Chinese ceramics, swords, and gold coins at the site of the shipwreck.
Through the Submerged Cultural Heritage Law of 2013 Colombia has claimed the wreck of the San Jose and its contents. Colombia has claimed the galleon as part of its submerged patrimony, thus it is constitutionally obliged to protect and preserve the ship and all of its sunken contents.
The Government of Colombia has classified the location of the galleon as a state secret.
Spain disagreed, claiming the ship as being their property. Spain is using the UNESCO convention on underwater cultural heritage to make its claim.
Despite the secrecy surrounding the exact location of the wreck it appears that other South American countries may have already plundered the site of the ship, once again these countries claiming a right to at least part of the treasure.
The Viceroyalty of New Spain, whose capitol was Mexico City, included all Spanish territory north of Panama, as well as, the West Indies, Venezuela, and the Philippines.
Conservation of the deteriorating condition of the San José wreck at where it lies:
The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, a government agency ascribed to the Ministry of Culture, is in charge of overseeing all archeological sites in Colombia.
The soil, and sea depth studies are being carried out in order to examine the methods of extraction of the ship's contents.
A museum is being set up in Cartagena to host some of the contents of the galleon.
Links to some other interesting posts from South American countries & Mexico:
26) A new 100 Boliviano Banknote from Bolivia: issued by the "Banco Centrale de Bolivia" (Central Bank of Bolivia) on 15.01.2019 under its new 2018 Banknote Series
27) Central Bank of Uruguay ("Banco Centrale del Uruguay"): 50th Anniversary (Golden Jubilee) - 1967-2017 - celebrated with the issue of a 50 Peso Commemorative Banknote on 14.09.2018
Links to Posts on Curacao on this Blog:
18) Sea Motifs, Bahamas: Gold Bullion Coins in the denominations of 100 Dollars (depicting a Blue Marlin) and 250 Dollars (depicting a Conch Shell): Coins issue date: 03.12.2019
19) A new Generation $100 Polymer Banknote, Trinidad and Tobago with enhanced security features to "raise the bar" for counterfeiters & unscrupulous elements: Banknote circulation date: 09.12.2019:
20) Festival di Tumba (Carnival of Curacao), Curacao: "50th Edition of the Curacao Carnival/Festival" held from 27-31.01.2020: A set of six Commemorative Postage Stamps brought out by Cpost (Curacao Post) on 20.02.2020
21) New Polymer Banknotes, Trinidad and Tobago: The entire series will consist of $100, $50, $20, $10, $5 and $1 denominations: $100 has already been issued on 09.12.2019
23) "Caribbean Sea-Horse", Barbados: $10 (Ten Dollars) 1.0 Oz. Gold Bullion Coins & $1 (One Dollar) 1.0 Oz. Silver Bullion Coins minted by the Scottsdale Mint; Year of issue: 2020
24) Cayman Islands, A British Overseas Territory (BOT): A set of identically numbered Banknotes of the presently circulating Banknotes from the "D" Series of Banknotes
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