Reuters.

2 sunken vessels near San Jose wreck bore gold worth $17 billion

Colombia: The Spanish government has revealed that the two newly discovered vessels, adjacent to the 62-gun San Jose sunk by the British in 1708, bore a treasure of gold worth $17 billion, NDTV reports citing Newsweek.

San Jose shipwreck was discovered in 2015.

The video was filmed using a remote-controlled vehicle, which captured a boat and a schooner near the San Jose wreck at a depth of 3,100 feet off the Caribbean coast. Both were estimated as 200 years old, according to a Washinton Post report. The video features visuals in blue and green in colour, showing coins, pottery and intact porcelain cups scattered on the sea floor, the Post reports.

After spending centuries under the sea, the bow of one of the vessels stays intact, while the video shows a cannon on the seabed. Officials informed that archaeologists from the navy and government are trying to determine the origin of the plates based on inscriptions.

Colombian President Ivan Duque said that the idea was to discover the treasure and to have sustainable financing for future extractions, thus protecting the "patrimony of the San Jose galleon".

The San Jose shipwreck is called the "holy grail" of shipwrecks since it was shipping carrying one of the largest amounts of valuables ever to have been lost to the sea.

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