$1.5BILLION treasure found on sunken Spanish galleon

Started by Barthheart, December 08, 2015, 12:27:39 PM

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Barthheart

$1.5BILLION treasure found on sunken Spanish galleon: First look at the wreck of the San Jose, 300 years after it was sunk by a British warship near Colombia

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3347952/Wreckage-300-year-old-Spanish-galleon-holding-1-5BILLION-gold-silver-coins.html

Quote
- Colombia's president says deep-sea divers have found the wreck of a Spanish galleon that was sunk 300 years ago with 600 people aboard
- The ship is believed to have been carrying up to 11million gold coins, emeralds and other precious stones
- It was sunk off the coast of Baru near the remote Rosario Islands in an attack by the Royal Navy in 1708

Bison

Wow!  It's amazing that much wealth was trusted in the care of a single ship. 

LongBlade

I love reading of these discoveries, but it's sobering to remember that 600 people died when that ship went down.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Barthheart

Yeah, even those are today's values on the treasure, it's still a staggering amount in a single ship. Sounds like the Spanish were getting desperate by that time in the conflict as they were loading warships with treasure to try and protect it from their enemies and pirates.

The article states that there were 30 to 90 ship convoys going back and forth to Spain during that time period.... that's a mind boggling amount of shipping and loot crossing the ocean!  :o

And 600 people lost... that's massive ship for the time.

Bison

I wonder the actual dimension of the ship.  I've seen some replication ships from the era and I cannot imagine one big enough to house 600 people. 

It really makes you wonder at the amount of wealth in terms of gold and precious stones that were actually pulled out of South/Central America and sent back to Europe. 

LongBlade

Quote from: Barthheart on December 08, 2015, 12:43:38 PM
Yeah, even those are today's values on the treasure, it's still a staggering amount in a single ship. Sounds like the Spanish were getting desperate by that time in the conflict as they were loading warships with treasure to try and protect it from their enemies and pirates.

The article states that there were 30 to 90 ship convoys going back and forth to Spain during that time period.... that's a mind boggling amount of shipping and loot crossing the ocean!  :o

They were desperate. The English, French, and Dutch would variously and periodically declare open season on the Spanish. There was simply too much wealth coming out of the new world to be ignored.

If you haven't read the history of Captain Morgan you ought to.

Here's a great read: http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Blue-Water-Americas-Catastrophe/dp/0307236617
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Barthheart

Quote from: Bison on December 08, 2015, 12:48:10 PM
I wonder the actual dimension of the ship.  I've seen some replication ships from the era and I cannot imagine one big enough to house 600 people. 

According to here:
http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/caribbeantales/ships_galleon.html
It doesn't sound like they were that large:

QuoteThey ran about 30-50 m long, 8 m wide, standing upto 15 m out of the water, carrying from 600 to 2000 tonnes of cargo. They had two to three decks. Most galleons were four masted ships, although some were only three, forward masts being square-rigged, lateen-sails on the mizzenmast, and a small square sail on her high-rising bowsprit.. The stern most mast was known as the bon-adventure mast and was rigged with a lanteen sails which gave the ship great maneuverability especially in the wind. For their size, Galleons had great speed (about eight knots).

QuoteA typical crew would consist of around 200 men. The Galleon could also carry as many as 40 paying passengers.

Maybe most of the 600 were slaves?

Quote from: Bison on December 08, 2015, 12:48:10 PM
It really makes you wonder at the amount of wealth in terms of gold and precious stones that were actually pulled out of South/Central America and sent back to Europe.

According to Wikki:
QuoteWalton[36] gives the following figures in pesos. For the 300-year period the peso or piece of eight had about 25 grams of silver, about the same as the German thaler, Dutch rijksdaalder or the US silver dollar. A single galleon might carry 2 million pesos. The modern approximate value of the estimated 4 billion pesos produced during the period would come to $527,270,000,000 or €469,839,661,964 (based on silver bullion prices of May 2015).

Bison


Barthheart

Spain now laying claim to the wreck:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35036121

QuoteSpanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo said Spain wanted an amicable agreement with Colombia over the ship and its contents.

But he said Spain would be prepared to defend its interests at the UN if necessary.

The minister said that there was a UNESCO convention that stipulated that this type of wreck "belonged to the state, was the result of war, and was not a private boat".


Bison

That's gotta be a tough sell at the UN.  Hey we legally extorted and exploited our way to this wealth in one of our previous colonies!  I'm pretty sure the UN isn't big on colonization rights.  The hearing might actually prove to be quite entertaining.

Barthheart


Barthheart

Quote from: Bison on December 08, 2015, 01:24:42 PM
That's gotta be a tough sell at the UN.  Hey we legally extorted and exploited our way to this wealth in one of our previous colonies!  I'm pretty sure the UN isn't big on colonization rights.  The hearing might actually prove to be quite entertaining.

That would be my guess as well.

Bison

This topic really puts me in the mood for an Age of Sails type game.

BanzaiCat

A good friend of mine/co-worker/GH forum lurker lives in Columbia, and he just sent me this reply when I asked if he'd heard about this story locally. (He said it was okay for me to quote his reply to me.)

Quote...due to this discovery, now Colombia is in a really heavy legal battle since Britain and Spain are claiming ownership of the treasure. Spain, becasue the ship belonged to them, and Britain, because they sunk the ship and it is a war treasure. Colombia is pushing hard since the treasure was stolen by the Spaniard conquerors and it sunk in Colombian territory. Now the government is on hold by an international court in the US while its determined its ownership (which can be a legal battle that lasts years). The location of the treasure is remained highly confidential by the Colombian government while things are cleared up. I just hope it stays here in Colombia so people can see the treasure at a museum or something. Experts are saying that the amount of gold, emeralds, rubies, diamonds, pearls, etc., is enormous so it will take years to take everything out of the water but I bet it'll be an awesome spectacle.


Barthheart

Yeah, I'll bet the Brits were mightily pissed when she blew up and couldn't be captured.

Still think the only ones with a real claim are the Colombians....