The fascinating history of the world's largest treasure ship

San José, a Spanish battleship wrecked in the 18th century, once contained a huge treasure, so large that one could not imagine the ship could float on the sea. Recently, the ship was found, after centuries of seabed in the Caribbean.

Discover the fascinating history of the world's largest treasure ship

"As a leader of the country, I am very happy to inform you that we found the San José, 307 years after it sank," said President Juan Manuel Santos in a statement. launched last weekend.

The war was fierce on the sea

The ship San José is said to carry one of the world's largest treasures, worth billions of dollars. The Colombian side discovered San José on November 27, when an international search team, led by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), found an ancient ship with the same structural characteristics. The historical description of San José. This is a worthy achievement after Colombia's decades-long effort.

"Today, we remember the 600 seafarers who lost their lives when San José sunk," said Mr Santos. The 600 people he spoke of were San José's sailors, with most of them killed when the ship sank to the sea floor.

The depiction of the naval battle caused the San José to explode and sink into the Caribbean Sea, painted by Samuel Scott in 1708

The book states that the ship San José was a victim of the Spanish throne succession war , which determined who would lead Spain after the death of King Charles II, who had no children. The context that led to the war was when King Louis XIV declared that his grandson Philip would become King of Spain in 1700, shortly after Charles II's death. But the British regarded the combination of France and Spain as a giant threat. As a result, the war broke out only a year later.

At that time, Spain had a fleet of specialist ships going to the Americas, filled with jewels and gold and returned to Europe. The British sought to rob these vulnerable ships, considering it an effective way to cut off Spain's money supply.

In 1708, Spain 's Conde de Casa Alegre , under the command of General Don Joseph de Santillan, set out for Spain. This fleet consists of 17 ships, with 3 of them being large sized battleships. The flagship is San José, carrying 64 cannons and over 600 sailors. In the storage compartment is 7 million gold pesos (according to official registration data and observers say that the gold and silver ships easily carry at least double that number).

The second largest ship in the fleet is San Jaochin , with 64 copper coins and 400-500 sailors. The third is Santa Cruz, with 44 cannons and 300 sailors. Fourth is the Nietto ship, with 40 cannons and 140 sailors. These were the main ships carrying large artillery, while the other ships in the fleet were mostly merchant ships, or small warships and had few large guns.

Despite being warned that the enemy ship was wrecking the road, the fleet was still confident to head to Spain. On June 7, the fleet arrived in Baru Island, Colombia and anchored here due to unfavorable winds. That's when the British acted.

With only four battleships in hand, Admiral Charles Wager of England was still cleverly leaning on the wind to attack Spain's treasure fleet. And despite the rapid arrival of the Spanish fleet, British ships still opened fire, causing great damage to the enemy.

There is the fact that the British fleet is equipped with very strong firepower. Flagship under Admiral Wager was HMS Expedition, there were 72 cannons. The second ship is Kingston with 64 guns and Portland with 58 guns.

Wager's strategy is to attack San José, to capture the treasure it carries. However, as soon as the British were about to gain control of the treasure, the ship suddenly exploded and sank. It lay quietly under deep water, until last month.