The San José was no ordinary galleon. When the Spanish ship was sunk by the British off the coast of Colombia in 1708, it was carrying one of the richest cargos ever assembled in the Americas.
Its loss set in motion a three-century hunt for the “holy grail” of shipwrecks.
It returned to global attention this week after the Colombian government announced it had retrieved the first artefacts from a vessel experts say could be worth $18 billion (£13.6 billion).
Gold coins, porcelain cups and a cannon were brought to the surface: tantalising hints of what may still lie on the sea bed.
