November 7, 2023
Holy Grail of shipwrecks
The Colombian government’s description of a three-century-old sunken ship filled with as much as $20 billion worth of treasure.
What To Know: Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered his administration to dig out the ship from the ocean floor but debates over who found the ship, and who has ownership of the treasure, remain up in the air. In the meantime, photos show the ship, which sank in 1708, flowing with gold, silver and emeralds.
Big Picture: “There’s an estimated three million shipwrecks scattered across the ocean floor, from sunken World War II destroyers to colonial Spanish galleons to small abandoned dinghies,” The Smithsonian noted in January 2022, adding, “many of them are teeming with marine life, reclaimed by the ocean as homes for coral, eels, snappers and sharks.”
‘Holy Grail of shipwrecks’ to be exhumed off Colombia with $20B sunken treasure (New York Post)
by Leah Grainery, based in Texas
