Two sea vessels, which were recently discovered near the ruins of the famous sunken San Jose galleon, are laden with gold worth $17 billion, a report in Newsweek has said. The 62-gun San Jose was sunk by the British in 1708.
It was found in 2015 and the Spanish government has released new footage of the shipwreck which contains cold and other valuable items.
The video was captured by a remote controlled vehicle and shows a boat and a schooner near the main shipwreck. Both the vessels are believed to be 200 years old, the Washington Post said in a report. The remotely operated vehicle was sent to a depth of 3,100 feet off the country's Caribbean coast, it added.
The images, blue and green in colour, show gold coins, pottery and intact porcelain cups scattered on the sea floor, the Post report further said.
The bow of one of the vessels is seen well-preserved despite spending centuries under the sea, the images further show, according to Newsweek. A cannon too can be seen on the seabed, apart from various types of clay pots.
Archaeologists from the navy and government are working to determine the origin of the plates based on inscriptions, the officials said.
"The idea is to recover it and to have sustainable financing mechanisms for future extractions," President Ivan Duque said. "In this way we protect the treasure, the patrimony of the San Jose galleon."
The San Jose shipwreck has been described as the holy grail of shipwrecks, as the ship was carrying one of the largest amounts of valuables ever to have been lost at sea.
