Sunken galleon San Jose found; could hold treasure worth billions

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Juan Manual Santos says he'll release more details Saturday about the discovery of a Spanish galleon sunk more than 300 years ago with a large cargo of gold and precious stones aboard.

Santos said in a tweet Friday the details will be given at a news conference in the coastal city of Cartagena. He did not specify a time.

In his tweet, he says: "Great news: We found the galleon San Jose."

The ship sank to the bottom of the sea as it was trying to outrun a fleet of British warships June 8, 1708. It was submerged off the coast of Baru in what is now Colombia near the Rosario Islands. It is believed to have been carrying 11 million gold coins, jewels and 600 people, which could be worth billions.

The lost galleon and its cargo have been the subject of a decades-long legal fight between Colombia's government and the Seattle-based salvage firm Sea Search Armada, which claimed it discovered the site of the San Jose shipwreck in the early 1980s.

It was unclear if the find announced by Santos was at a different location than that of the discovery claimed by Sea Search.

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sunken galleon San Jose found; could hold treasure worth billions ."