Gold, silver, emeralds – today the treasure of San Jose must be worth several billion euros. The shipwreck with the treasure is located off the coast of Colombia, at a depth of 600 meters. Now Colombia wants to bring the treasure to the surface – although it’s not yet clear who it really belongs to. The legal situation is complicated. And at the same time, the outcome of the legal dispute is crucial, as it will be a guideline for the many other shipwrecks that hide great treasures and are waiting to be discovered.

A precious treasure was suddenly lost

In order to finance the war with England, which had been raging since 1701 in the context of the “War of the Spanish Succession”, in June 1708 the Spanish wanted to bring home a total of 344 tons of gold and silver coins and 116 caissons of emeralds, treasures which they had collected in their American colonies.

For better or for worse, the enormous treasure was divided among several ships, as was the case with the galleon San Jose, which was equipped with 64 cannons and was one of the most important ships in the Spanish fleet. The San Jose was accompanied by two more galleons, ships of the time for overseas voyages, and more than ten warships to repel any attacks by English or Dutch corsairs.

About 30 kilometers away from the port of Cartagena, now in Colombia, four British warships had ambushed the Spanish. During the ten-hour naval battle that followed, the San Jose caught fire. Before the English could steal the precious cargo, the gunpowder chamber exploded and within minutes the ship had sunk, taking the treasure and crew with it. 578 people drowned and only 11 survived. The English captured one galleon, while the other returned to Cartagena.

The wreck of the galley San Jose

A treasure lost for centuries

For more than 270 years the treasure lay somewhere off the coast of Colombia, which was unable to search for it. So in 1979 an American businessman funded a private investigation. His company, Sea Search Armada (SSA), signed a contract with the Colombian state, under which it was guaranteed a fair share of the treasure, should it succeed in retrieving it from the seabed.

And indeed the team members soon managed to locate the wreck and take the first pictures. But instead of fame and money, arrests and trouble awaited them. Colombia did not recognize the find, the company was believed to have illegally searched for the treasure, and it was unclear whether the wreck was indeed the San Jose.

A multi-year legal dispute

The US company filed a breach of contract lawsuit and a multi-year legal battle ensued. In 2007 a Colombian court ruled in favor of the SSA. But Colombia appealed the decision in 2011 in the US – and won. Because according to the international law of the sea all the treasures located within 12 nautical miles from the coast belong to the respective country. But was the American court competent to rule on this particular case?

According to the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Property on the Seabed, such a find belongs to the country of origin, in this case Spain. But Colombia has not signed this UNESCO convention.

In 2015, Colombia hired an American survey company, which managed to locate the wreck near the Baru Peninsula and identify it beyond doubt based on the ship’s distinctive cannons. Video footage clearly shows cannons decorated with dolphins and horses, gold and silver coins and other treasures such as Chinese porcelain among the wreckage.

Cannon of the ship San Jose
The wreck was identified by the ship’s distinctive cannons

A treasure with many contenders

Colombian President Santos claimed the find for his country, arguing that the treasure should be displayed in a museum in Cartagena. However, both Spain and SSA claimed the treasure. A part of it is also requested by Bolivia for the native Qhara Qhara, from whom gold, silver and emeralds were once stolen.

But what is everyone entitled to? Does Spain, for example, have a claim only to the ship’s wreckage, that is, to the wood and cannon, or to her cargo as well? Is it critical that the stolen gold and silver were converted into coins? Do the claims of Colombia and the indigenous people depend on this fact? What about Chinese porcelain? Or about the contract between SSA and Colombia?

Chinese porcelains at the San Jose shipwreck
Chinese porcelain has endured centuries at the bottom of the sea

The complicated legal situation

In German there is the expression “in court and on the high seas one is in the hands of God”. He wants to demonstrate that the development and outcome of a legal process is often unpredictable. Because even when someone has a certain right, it doesn’t mean that they will actually be vindicated.

From a modern moral point of view it seems incomprehensible why Spain should even be rewarded for the depredations it made in Latin America. Or why Colombia may have violated a convention or does not recognize certain international conventions, but at the same time invokes other written provisions of international law.

Before the court, however, the law is critical, not morality. And given the complexity of this particular case, as well as the money at stake, the legal dispute will probably continue for several more years. Especially since it is not clear which law applies or which court is competent to rule on the case – the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is obviously not.

The SSA has appealed to The Hague. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the most important judicial organ of the UN. But the ICC has jurisdiction over disputes between states – which is not the case here.

Colombia does not wait

While all involved eagerly await a verdict, Colombia is setting new record by moving ahead with the treasure haul. It may be years before a binding ruling is issued, which could in turn apply to other wrecks and ships – something necessary in an age where treasure hunting has become safer, more efficient and more lucrative. It is said that there are more than 200 shipwrecks on the Colombian coast alone.