Two beforehand unknown shipwrecks have been discovered close to a well-known Spanish galleon laden with an estimated $17 billion in gold that was sunk by the British in 1708.
The San José was a 62-gun, three-masted galleon that was sunk by the British with 600 individuals on board in 1708 within the Warfare of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) earlier than being present in 2015 laden with gold and valuables now considered price $17 billion.
Now, two different vessels have been discovered close by because of new, hi-tech tools which have additionally allowed Colombian naval officers to take a more in-depth have a look at the San José and to find spectacular historic artifacts together with a gold ingot and the crews' swords.
In addition they managed to movie quite a few gold cash scattered on the seafloor.
The footage, obtained from the Colombian authorities, reveals high-tech tools being lowered to the seafloor, the place a cannon may be seen on the seabed. Different artifacts may be seen strewn on the sand, together with numerous clay pots.
The footage then reveals the bow of one of many vessels, which seems to be remarkably well-preserved regardless of marine life trying to take over.
Pictures present how the vessel seems to be sitting on the seafloor, having not been swallowed up by the sand but.
Shut-up pictures close to one of many cannons present handfuls of gold cash mendacity on the sand. One other shot reveals a lot of what look like teacups strewn throughout the sand.
The pictures additionally present the wealth of artifacts mendacity on the seafloor, ready to be investigated.
The Colombian authorities mentioned that the 2 new vessels look like a colonial boat and a schooner thought up to now again to across the similar interval, when Colombia declared its independence from Spain in 1810, simply over 200 years in the past.
An announcement of the twin discover has been made by the Colombian President Ivan Duque, who mentioned that the 2 vessels had been discovered close to the wreck of the San José, which was sunk off the port metropolis of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, within the 18th century by the British.
It has been referred to as a holy grail of shipwrecks, because it was carrying one of many biggest portions of valuables ever misplaced at sea, with new footage of the vessel now additionally exhibiting close-up pictures of a few of its huge treasure.
Duque mentioned in an announcement: "We've already discovered two further vessels: one vessel that's from the colonial interval and one other that, from the viewpoint of preliminary evaluation, corresponds to the Republican interval of our historical past."
The president additionally mentioned that the Colombian Navy is investigating the doable areas of roughly 12 different vessels within the space.
Duque defined that Colombia now had tools that may "attain the depths and have the perfect pictures" whereas on the similar time defending "the integrity of the treasure" till may be recovered from the seafloor.
Duque mentioned: "In recent times, with these applied sciences we had been in a position to attain a stage of precision by no means seen earlier than."
Duque additionally mentioned that the know-how was getting used to search out sunken vessels "the place there was prior preliminary info on doable shipwrecks."
The top of the Colombian Navy, Admiral Gabriel Perez, mentioned that the brand new tools had additionally made it doable to confirm that the world the place the San José galleon is positioned had not been interfered with by anybody previous to the invention.
In a separate assertion from the Colombian Armed Command, the Colombian Navy confirmed: "Beneath the rules of the Presidency of the Republic over the past two years, the Colombian Navy and the Normal Maritime Directorate, in a non-intrusive remark work carried out on the website the place the Galleon San José rests, has verified that it has not suffered intervention or alterations by human motion."
The assertion from the Colombian Armed Command additionally mentioned: "This work has been validated by members of the Shipwrecked Antiquities Fee and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and Historical past, ICANH, entities hooked up to the Ministry of Tradition.
"That is how the Colombian Navy developed the planning, preparation and execution of the 4 remark campaigns through which high-tech tools and pc instruments had been used to course of the knowledge and confirm the standing of the wreck.
"In the course of the remark campaigns, in one other close by space, two shipwrecks had been recognized that had not been reported and that add to the historic heritage context of the Colombian Caribbean."
The nation's common maritime director, Jose Joaquin Amezquita, additionally mentioned that numerous historic artifacts had additionally been found among the many wreckage of the San José, as may be seen in a few of the images, together with intact crockery from the interval bearing the galleon's insignia and the cannon, which had been made in Seville and Cadiz in Spain in 1655.
Different artifacts which were found embrace cash referred to as "macuquinas," which had been minted by hand on the time, a gold ingot and the crew's swords.
"What we're speaking about is a vital wealth that has rather a lot to inform us about our previous," Amezquita mentioned.
This story was supplied to Newsweek by Zenger Information.
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