grossmusic
Sr. Member
- Jul 19, 2013
- 348
- 445
- Detector(s) used
- I detect the history: I've visited archives up & down the entire US East Coast, Bahamas, Jamaica, Kew, The Hague, etc. Have yet to go to Seville or S.American archives.
- Primary Interest:
- Shipwrecks
A 2007 book that details the voyage if anyone's interested in getting a copy is available online:
Amazon.com: The Treasure of the San José: Death at Sea in the War of the Spanish Succession (9781421404165): Carla Rahn Phillips: Books
It does not, however, spend much time talking about the actual treasure as I recall. The "treasure" is meant to be the many lives lost.
But it does dispel the myth about the value of the treasure. Page 214:
The treasure she carried–mostly gold and
silver, plus some pearls, gems, and other valuables–was probably worth somewhere
in the neighborhood of 10 million pesos in the money of the time, not
the half-billion Garcia Marquez mentioned in his Spanish original ("medio
millón de millones"), and certainly not 500 billion, which was the translator's
error. Nonetheless, the gross exaggeration of the value of the San Jose's cargo
fits well with modern popular memories of her loss.
And goes on to have colorful, relevant commentary.
The San Jose's fate, embellished by visions of her valuable cargo, has come
down through the ages to lure treasure hunters. A well-publicized attempt to
locate and claim the ship and her cargo was chronicled early in 1989 in a Sunday
magazine called West, published by the San Jose Mercury News in California.
2 According to the article, a consortium of treasure hunters and investors
spent $10-12 million in the late 1970S and early 1980s trying to find the wreck.
Where she lies remains the subject of much speculation; it is certainly close to
the city of Cartagena, though not at the entrance to the port. Trumping the
claims of treasure hunters, the governments of Colombia and Spain have also
claimed the wreck and continue to argue about it in the courts.
Many other governments are also interested in laws governing the salvage
of lost state vessels. For example, the United States recently weighed in on the
subject in a presidential statement of January 19, 2001:
Pursuant to the property clause of Article IV of the Constitution, the United
States retains title indefinitely to its sunken State craft unless title has bee?
abandoned or transferred in the manner Congress authorized or directed. The
United States recognizes the rule of international law that title to foreign
sunken State craft may be transferred or abandoned only in accordance with the
law of the foreign flag State.
Further, the United States recognizes that title to a United States or foreign
sunken State craft, wherever located, is not extinguished by passage of time, regardless
of when such sunken State craft was lost at sea.
In other words, the United States supports the notion that a sunken state warship
remains the property of that state, regardless of where or when it sank,
unless the state specifically relinquishes that right. Spain holds that same posi tion
in general and in the specific case of the San Jose, which sank nearly three
hundred years ago. The government of Colombia disagrees, claiming territorial
rights to shipwrecks off its coast. Only time will tell how the courts resolve
the issue. In the interests of historic preservation, however, public authorities
of some sort should retain control of the San Jose and all other historic shipwrecks
so as to prevent their indiscriminate salvage by private parties.
Amazon.com: The Treasure of the San José: Death at Sea in the War of the Spanish Succession (9781421404165): Carla Rahn Phillips: Books
It does not, however, spend much time talking about the actual treasure as I recall. The "treasure" is meant to be the many lives lost.
But it does dispel the myth about the value of the treasure. Page 214:
The treasure she carried–mostly gold and
silver, plus some pearls, gems, and other valuables–was probably worth somewhere
in the neighborhood of 10 million pesos in the money of the time, not
the half-billion Garcia Marquez mentioned in his Spanish original ("medio
millón de millones"), and certainly not 500 billion, which was the translator's
error. Nonetheless, the gross exaggeration of the value of the San Jose's cargo
fits well with modern popular memories of her loss.
And goes on to have colorful, relevant commentary.
The San Jose's fate, embellished by visions of her valuable cargo, has come
down through the ages to lure treasure hunters. A well-publicized attempt to
locate and claim the ship and her cargo was chronicled early in 1989 in a Sunday
magazine called West, published by the San Jose Mercury News in California.
2 According to the article, a consortium of treasure hunters and investors
spent $10-12 million in the late 1970S and early 1980s trying to find the wreck.
Where she lies remains the subject of much speculation; it is certainly close to
the city of Cartagena, though not at the entrance to the port. Trumping the
claims of treasure hunters, the governments of Colombia and Spain have also
claimed the wreck and continue to argue about it in the courts.
Many other governments are also interested in laws governing the salvage
of lost state vessels. For example, the United States recently weighed in on the
subject in a presidential statement of January 19, 2001:
Pursuant to the property clause of Article IV of the Constitution, the United
States retains title indefinitely to its sunken State craft unless title has bee?
abandoned or transferred in the manner Congress authorized or directed. The
United States recognizes the rule of international law that title to foreign
sunken State craft may be transferred or abandoned only in accordance with the
law of the foreign flag State.
Further, the United States recognizes that title to a United States or foreign
sunken State craft, wherever located, is not extinguished by passage of time, regardless
of when such sunken State craft was lost at sea.
In other words, the United States supports the notion that a sunken state warship
remains the property of that state, regardless of where or when it sank,
unless the state specifically relinquishes that right. Spain holds that same posi tion
in general and in the specific case of the San Jose, which sank nearly three
hundred years ago. The government of Colombia disagrees, claiming territorial
rights to shipwrecks off its coast. Only time will tell how the courts resolve
the issue. In the interests of historic preservation, however, public authorities
of some sort should retain control of the San Jose and all other historic shipwrecks
so as to prevent their indiscriminate salvage by private parties.
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