The Legendary San José Wreck 1708: A Tale of Treasure, Tragedy, and Deceit

1708: The San José, flagship of the Spanish Treasure Fleet, was returning from the New World under the Count of Casa Alegre, General José Fernández de Santillán. The fleet had 3 warships and 14 merchant vessels. Despite warnings the British were lying in wait for them, they sailed from Portobello, Panama, to Cartagena, Colombia. Just south of Cartagena, a British squadron of 4 ships under Commodore Charles Wager attacked. The two exchanged fire. Then, after nightfall, while 200 feet away, the San José's powder magazine suddenly exploded, sending her 2,000 feet below the surface. Of 600 souls, only 11 survived. Though her manifest is lost, she supposedly carried 7 to 11 million pesos of silver, gold coins, and emeralds. However, extra smuggled bullion was often up to 100% more than manifests listed.

1979: Jim Bannigan and Jim Maloney, New York stockbrokers, founded the Glocca Mora Company (GMC) to search for the San José.

1979 or 1980: Colombia's Directión General Marítima signed a 50/50 agreement (some say 65/35) with GMC to search a 425 square mile area off Cartagena for wrecks.

1980-1985: GMC discovered six wrecks using a surface side-scan sonar and a deep ROV (remotely operated vehicle).

1981: GMC announced they discovered the San José (the Economist said 1982). Some say they found a cannon. They sent the submarine Piccard to video a shipwreck 660 feet below the surface. Analysis of a wood sample showed it was consistent with a late 1600s galleon. They gave the coordinates as 10º 10' 17" N-76º 00' 20" W.

1982: Colombia reneged on the GMC agreement, reducing their offer to 25%. GMC refused. They then said there had been an error in the listed coordinates. When Piccard's crew recovered a transponder, ready to shut down the operation, the Colombian government tried to arrest them.

1984: GMC sold out to Sea Search Armada (SSA), a Delaware-registered company. SSA raised $10 million through about 100 investors to salvage the wreck. Though Colombia had agreed to honor the transfer, she later reneged and passed a law reducing SSA's rights to 5% with a further 45% tax!

1989: SSA's CEO Jack Harbeston sued Colombia. His legal battle continues to this day!

1994: Colombia hired Tommy Thompson to re-explore SSA's given coordinates but found nothing. However, SSA disputed his credibility, noting he was jailed for concealing $2 to $5 million of treasure from the SS Central America.

1997: The Circuit Court of Barranquilla (a Colombian Appellate court) ruled SSA and Colombia should split the salvage 50/50, despite an earlier 65/35 agreement.

2001: The UNESCO Convention on Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage agreed to prevent plundering underwater shipwrecks over 100 years old. But Colombia, with hundreds of valuable wrecks in its waters, never signed that agreement, signaling her interest in salvage over archaeology.

2007: The Colombian Supreme Court awarded a 50/50 split to Colombia and SSA, saying the treasure did not count as cultural patrimony, reaffirming Colombia's salvage rather than archaeology interests.

2010: Columbia threatened military action against SSA if they tried to salvage the San José.

2011 and 2015: US courts dismissed SSA's case on technical grounds, declaring the wreck Colombian property.

2013: Colombia passed a law allowing private contractors to salvage wrecks and keep 50%, further signaling her interest in salvage rather than archaeology.

2014: Roger Dooley (see pictures at end of article) came across the San José's details at Seville's Archives of the Indies. He later discovered her pilot's derrotero (a handwritten book of mariner's directions) in the British Library. He tried first to persuade the Colombian government, then wealthy Latin Americans to bankroll exploring the San José. But he had no success. So, he teamed up with Anthony Clake, a wealthy English hedge fund partner at Marshall Wace. Dooley and Clake (who loved shipwrecks) then formed MAC (Maritime Archaeology Consultants) in Britain. Within months, Dooley presented Colombia's President Santos with a 1729 map showing Islets off Cartagena labelled Bajo del Almirante, perhaps a reference to Commodore Charles Wager. Intrigued, the President facilitated a meeting with his culture minister.

2015: Colombia soon hired Dooley, who engaged the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), discoverer of the famous Titanic wreck. Using their AUV Remus 6000 (an autonomous underwater vehicle with side-scan sonar), Dooley led WHOI's discovery of the San José's wreck at an estimated cost of $70-$100 million. WHOI found bronze cannon showing decorative dolphins, confirming the identity of the wreck just 12 miles off shore (within her territorial waters). Colombia soon declared the SSA's 2007 Colombia Supreme Court decision irrelevant, as their coordinates were wrong. SSA's CEO Jack Harbeston claimed Dooley had worked for him on another project and had stolen the San José's true coordinates from SSA's computers. Dooley pointed out SSA's first coordinates reflected a different ship, at a different depth, several miles away, but SSA refuted that. A Spanish journalist, Jesús García Calero, suggested MAC had a dubious reputation, alleging Tony Blair conspired with President Santos in the MAC deal.

2016: Photos released of the site showed changes since 2015, suggesting salvage had begun.

2018: UNESCO told Colombia not to salvage the vessel. But Colombia never signed the UNESCO agreement and has a right to the wreck if it lies within its territorial waters.

2019: Spain protested Columbia's salvage of the San José, citing the 570 Spanish lives lost on board.

2020: Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramirez declared all San José's contents "objects of cultural interest." This backpedalled Colombia's previous interest in salvage rather than archaeology and meant the coins could not be sold. However, it defies logic to say so many millions of coins are unique!

2022: SSA sued Colombia for $10 billion in the UN's Permanent Court of Arbitration.

2023: In November, Colombia's president announced plans to salvage the San José. With a term ending in August 2026 and low approval ratings, the left-leaning President Gustavo Petro hopes to complete the salvage quickly.

2024: In May, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History announced a "protected archaeological area," saying they were exploring the wreck with an ROV, despite no deep-water experience. They plan an archaeological survey costing $4.5 million over two years, but likely will need much more money, more time, and foreign help. Culture Minister Juan Correa still insists the focus is on archeology, not salvage. They claim they will only salvage treasure to establish a museum and not sell anything. But more likely, salvage has already started before a proper archaeological survey, and salvaged items will end up in the pockets of Colombia's well-connected. Given Colombia's history of reneging on deals, there remains skepticism about their intentions and the fate of any salvaged items.

To read the complete article, see:
https://www.booksoncoins.com/

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
SAN JOSE GALLEON FOUND: THE HOLY GRAIL OF SHIPWRECKS(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n49a26.html)
SPAIN CLAIMS OWNERSHIP OF SAN JOSE GALLEON TREASURE(https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n50a37.html)
COLOMBIA PLANS TO SALVAGE THE SAN José(https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n28a25.html)
COLOMBIA STAKES CLAIM ON SAN JOSE WRECK(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n22a27.html)