The way to San José leads to an $18bn wrangle

Description

A detailed assessment by The Times Science Editor Rhys Blakely of the wealth of the Spanish Flota galleon San José, shipwrecked in June 1708 after being attacked by the British naval commodore Charles Wager. San José has been claimed as the ‘holy grail’ of shipwrecks because on this voyage it carried a large proportion of the mineral riches extracted from present-day Peru and Bolivia between 1702 and 1708, transported via Portobelo in modern Panama to Cartagena in Colombia in 1708, then sailing in the treasure fleet towards Havana and Spain. This incident occurred off the Colombia coast during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), between Spain and France, opposed by Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic. This war was global, affecting Europe, the Atlantic, the Americas, Africa and East Indies in a struggle for control of Europe and international trade. It was hugely expensive, thus protection or seizure of the Flota was crucial to both combatants.

Published 29/11/25