Watch The Treasure Ship Sunk In 1708, Colombia Finds Two Other Historic Ships

Shipwreck in the Caribbean. (Source: Colombian Presidency)

JAKARTA - Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez announced the discovery of two new historic shipwrecks, as the Colombian Navy conducted underwater monitoring of the San Jose ship that sank hundreds of years ago.

The Galleon San Jose, thought by historians to be carrying treasures worth billions of dollars, sank in 1708 near the Port of Cartagena in the Caribbean, Colombia.

The opportunity to lift it from the bottom of the water has been the subject of litigation for decades.

A remotely operated vehicle reached a depth of 900 meters, President Duque and naval officials said in a video statement, enabling new video of the wreckage.

The vehicle also found two other shipwrecks nearby, a colonial ship and a schooner thought to date back to the same period as Colombia's war of independence from Spain, some 200 years ago.

"We now have two other finds in the same area, which indicate another option for archaeological exploration", said Navy Commander Admiral Gabriel Perez.

"So the work has just begun", he said.

The images provide the best views of the treasures aboard the San Jose, including gold bars and coins, cannons made in Seville in 1655, and intact Chinese dinnerware.

Archaeologists from the navy and government are working to determine the origin of the plates based on the inscriptions, officials said.

"The idea is to recover it and have a sustainable financing mechanism for future extraction", said President Ivan Duque.

"In this way, we protect the treasure, the legacy of the San Jose dug ship", he concluded.