With treasure worth up to $17 billion!!! The shipwreck is that of the Spanish galleon San Jose and it is thought to have been sunk by British warships in 1708. The discovery was actually made in 2015 but the details were not revealed until now (reasons to be discussed below).
I first read the story on CBS but liked the coverage on Science Alert more:
(https://www.sciencealert.com/how-scientists-found-the-holy-grail-of-shipwrecks-and-up-to-17-billion-in-treasure-san-jose-spanish-galleon-colombia).
My first thought was that this is what it must feel like to find a USB stick with 1000s of BTC from back in the day... haha!
But really, this story caught my eye because I find the idea of treasure hunting fascinating. When I was younger, my dad introduced me to Clive Cussler novels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler) which often revolve around treasure hunting-esque storylines. One of which, Sahara, was eventually made into an underrated movie starring Matthew McConaughey.
Now, it seems like the ocean is pretty much the only place treasure hunting can exist these days. However, in order to search the ocean, you need to have technology like this...
The REMUS 6000
From its website (https://www.whoi.edu/main/remus6000):
"The REMUS 6000 is an innovative, versatile research tool designed to operate in depths ranging from 25 meters (82 feet) to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet or 3.73 miles), allowing for a wide range of autonomous operations."
The details of the discovery via REMUS 6000 have not been disclosed until now because there is a dispute regarding who it belongs to between Colombia, Spain and possibly others. Colombia says it is in their waters and Spain says it originally flew under their flag (others have claimed some of the rights may belong to Holland, France or England).
What are your thoughts: Colombia or Spain? Ever read Clive Cussler or watch Sahara?