Operation in Colombia aims to recover treasure in the Caribbean – 03/03/2024 – Science

A part of a million-dollar treasure that the ship San José was carrying when it sank, more than 300 years ago, will see the light of day for the first time.

This week, the Colombian government announced that it will soon carry out a “high-level operation, with innovative technology” in deep waters of the Caribbean Sea.

The objective is to research and rescue parts of the galleon (a type of ship with four masts, widely used between the 16th and 18th centuries), which for a long time was one of the “most sought after lost treasures in the world.”

The galleon San José was a 40-meter-long Spanish ship that sank in the Battle of Barú, in 1708, near the Rosario Islands, an archipelago near the city of Cartagena, Colombia. It is estimated that 600 people died in the sinking.

In 2015, when the Colombian State found the wreckage 600 meters deep, then-president Juan Manuel Santos described it as “one of the greatest heritage discoveries, if not the greatest, some say, in the history of humanity.”

Based on historical documents, it is assumed that the galleon transported tons of goods, gold, silver and precious stones.

“The galleon had passed through the port of Portobelo, in Panama, where the exchange of goods from the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Caribbean took place”, explains Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH).

“We know that part of the treasure had been collected in the viceroyalties. Other lines of research indicate that illegal trade also participated in this shipment, with smuggling and other things”, he adds.

The galleon was declared in 2020 as an asset of cultural interest in Colombia, which is why the government argues that its value should not and cannot be accounted for in monetary terms.

“I understand that for a large part of Western societies, value has been equated with price. But there are issues, like the one that unites us today (the galleon), in my opinion, have an immense value that is priceless”, said the Minister of Culture , Juan David Correa, last Friday, in Cartagena.

In any case, an American “treasure hunting” company claims to own part of the galleon. The company claims that the ship’s assets could be valued at around US$20 million (around R$99 million).

What is known about the cargo the galleon was carrying, however, comes from archival sources and could not be confirmed first-hand at the wreck site.

In 2022, the National Navy and the National Maritime Directorate of Colombia carried out the first non-intrusive exploration of the galleon. Images from the expedition show several cannons, some coins and Chinese cutlery.

“What we were able to identify were pots, containers, syringes, glasses, porcelain, some coins, these types of materials that speak of what life was like on board”, explains Caicedo.

One of the objectives of the new research project is to have more certainty and details about what exists in the galleon at a depth of 600 meters.

Operation technology

According to the Minister of Culture, Juan David Correa, the operation will take place between April and May 2024. A remotely operated robot, developed in Sweden and manufactured in England, goes to the ship to recover some parts that are more visible.

The objective is to observe how these pieces react when leaving the water, according to the researchers.

“Once removed from the water, they are very vulnerable materials, because they have been subject to very significant pressures for 300 years and can then decompose quickly”, explained Alhena Caicedo to BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language service.

“We need to ensure that we know how to handle this type of materials, how to stabilize them, how to preserve them so that, if at some point we want to hold an exhibition, we have pieces that don’t fall apart”, he says.

The pieces will be studied in a laboratory in Cartagena and, in the medium term, the construction of a museum is planned.

For now, Colombian authorities have ruled out removing large quantities of gold and silver from the galleon.

The underwater robot will be operated from the ARC Caribe, a ship that the government purchased from a Chinese shipyard in 2017 for US$13 million (around R$64 million, in current values).

“Our ship has the ability to face the waves, the wind and all the movements in the six directions that exist in the ocean to be able to hold on to a precise point. Exploration requires the robot to go to a depth of 600 meters so that it can be connected to the hand and eye of the operator on the ship”, explained Admiral Hermann León to the EFE agency.

The operation will be a coordinated effort by the Ministry of Culture, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, the National Navy (ICANH) and the National Maritime Directorate, all public institutions.

This represents a change in relation to the initial plans that the Colombian State had during the government of Juan Manuel Santos.

Initially, it was announced that the project would be a public-private partnership that would include dividing the galleon’s treasure and paying the exploration company in kind, that is, with part of the treasure.

The first phase of the research, which will be carried out in 2024, will cost the State around US$4.5 million (R$22 million).

In addition to detailing information about the pieces in the galleon and extracting the first objects from the water, the exploration seeks to be a starting point for defining a long-term archaeological management plan. The researchers’ idea is to declare the area an archaeological reserve

According to Caicedo, this is important due to the risk of looting, that is, that unauthorized people, such as pirates or treasure hunters, reach the ship and loot it.

Since the wreckage was found, the galleon’s coordinates have been considered a state secret in Colombia.

Based on the new information that is known about what exists under the sea, “Colombia hopes to obtain answers to multiple scientific research questions about the submerged history of maritime trade between America and Europe at the beginning of the 18th century”, says the Ministry of Culture, in a statement.

Archaeologists criticize project

A dozen experts grouped in the University Network of Submerged Cultural Heritage criticized the government for considering that the galleon’s archaeological management plan presents important “gaps” and “inconsistencies”.

According to academics, there is no “proper scientific justification” for extracting pieces of the galleon, which would go against the principle of in situ conservation that ICANH itself has already suggested applying.

The researchers state that there is currently an “imperative” to extract the wreckage of the galleon that “prevails over any scientific, technical and management procedure, with the archaeological management plan being a mere formality to be fulfilled, given decisions taken in advance by the current government. “

Furthermore, the researchers point out that “no details are mentioned, nor are data presented from the seasons carried out between 2015 and 2016 by the treasure hunting company Maritime Archelogy Consultants, which would also have implied a possible intervention in the wreck.”

This was the company that signed a contract with the Colombian government during the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos to extract the remains of the galleon, although the subsequent government of Iván Duque decided that it would not move forward with the agreement.

The director of ICANH, Alhena Caicedo, clarified to BBC News Mundo that, on the advice of the State Legal Defense Agency, the current research project cannot take into account any report on the galleon produced by the company at that time.

Disputes over the galleon

At the same time that the government announced this ambitious deep-sea scientific research, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague formally initiated international litigation between Colombia and Sea Search Armada, a North American company. The subject is precisely the galleon.

Sea Search Armada claims to have found the wreckage before Colombia and is demanding US$10 million in compensation, half the estimated value of the galleon’s treasure.

The director of the State’s National Legal Defense Agency, the institution that must take on Colombia’s defense in the case, described this statement as “grotesque” and “frivolous” and stated that “the coordinates provided by the plaintiff are not the coordinates where the galleon”.

Colombian laws say the ship is “inalienable, imprescriptible and cannot be seized.” But that hasn’t stopped disputes over who owns it since its discovery.

In 2015, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs said that “Spain will not give up the galleon because it is a state ship”. However, both governments maintained their intention to reach an amicable and diplomatic resolution of the dispute.

On February 23, the Spanish ambassador to Colombia said he had instructions from his country’s government to offer Colombia “the possibility of working on a bilateral agreement to create a new paradigm in terms of protecting submerged heritage.”

Although she reiterates that the galleon belongs to Colombia, Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, states that “heritage has other dimensions that must also be considered, such as the symbolic dimension.”

“We recognize and want to recognize that we share the story with many others, we share this story of the galleon specifically with Spain, with Bolivia, with people from what was the former New Kingdom of Granada, with many social actors that we want to recognize”, he explains.

The Bolivian indigenous community Qhara Qhara also claims part of the galleon, alleging that the gold and silver transported were obtained in the Potosí mines through violence and exploitation.

“This is a heritage that we all have to look at with curiosity. Everyone is invited”, concluded minister Juan David Correa.