Experts disclose new details about 300-year-old shipwreck

A Spanish galleon laden with treasures worth £12.6 billion ($17 billion) that sank to the bottom of the Caribbean 300 years ago was found using an autonomous robot, researchers have revealed. The San Jose, sunk by the Royal Navy, gained a reputation as the'holy grail' of shipwrecks and was carrying one of the most valuable hauls of treasure ever lost at sea. The 62-gun, three-masted galleon, went down on June 8, 1708, with 600 people on board as well as a treasure of gold, silver and emeralds during a battle with British ships in the War of Spanish Succession. The San Jose was located by an underwater autonomous vehicle operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) back in 2015. The institution said it was keeping its involvement in the discovery quiet out of respect for the Colombian government.