Colombia Retrieves First Artifacts From San José Galleon for Scientific Study

Overview

• The recovery includes a cannon, a Chinese porcelain cup, three macuquina coins, porcelain fragments, and associated sediments.
• The Nov. 16–18 operation at roughly 600 meters near Cartagena used the Navy’s Saab Seaeye Lynx remotely operated system with ICANH and Dimar, and President Gustavo Petro observed the work aboard the support ship.
• The artifacts were transferred to the Submerged Cultural Heritage laboratory at the Caribbean Oceanographic and Hydrographic Research Center for conservation and detailed metallurgical and ceramic analyses.
• Colombia keeps the wreck’s coordinates a state secret and continues arbitration with Sea Search Armada, which asserts a 1982 find and seeks about $10 billion.
• ICANH reports the Kangxi-period Chinese porcelain assemblage at the site is the most complete and best preserved documented in the Caribbean, as authorities emphasize heritage research and caution against mass extraction.