On June 8, 1708, a fleet of 18 ships left Cartagena, Colombia, headed for Spain. They were intercepted by five British warships and a battle broke out. In the fight, a large supply of gunpowder on the galleon San José exploded, sending the ship to the bottom of the ocean. What was significant about the San José was that it was carrying around 200 tons of gold, silver, and gemstones, with a value of about $17 billion in today's dollars.
It took more than 300 years for the ship to be found, when a wrecked galleon resembling the San José was spotted at almost 2000 feet below the surface in 2015. But is this shipwreck really the San José? Recent exploration with ROVs seems to indicate that it is. Photographs of gold coins scattered on the ocean floor sport evidence that they were mined and minted in Lima, Peru, in the appropriate era. Pending identification, ownership of the wreckage is the subject of a court battle between Colombia and Spain. Read the story of the San José and the remains that may prove to be the most valuable shipwreck in history at Popular Mechanics. -via Damn Interesting
(Unrelated image credit: Alberto Cutileiro)
