This November 2015 photo released Monday, May 21, 2018, by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows ceramic jars and other items from the 300-year-old shipwreck of the Spanish galleon San Jose on... (Associated Press) 
 
 BOSTON (AP) — A Spanish galleon laden with gold that sank to the bottom of the Caribbean off the coast of Colombia more than 300 years ago was found three years ago with the help of an underwater autonomous vehicle operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the agency disclosed for the first time. 
 
 New details about the discovery of the San Jose were released on Monday with permission from the agencies involved in the search, including the Colombian government. 
 
 "We've been holding this under wraps out of respect for the Colombian government," said Rob Munier, WHOI's vice president for marine facilities and operations. 
 
 The exact location of the wreck of the San Jose, often called the "holy grail of shipwrecks," was long considered one of history's enduring maritime mysteries. 
 
 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 treasure is worth as much as $17 billion by modern standards. 
 
 The Massachusetts-based WHOI was invited to join the search because of its recognized expertise in deep water exploration. The institute's autonomous underwater vehicle, REMUS 6000, helped find the wreckage of Air France 447 in 2011, which crashed in 2009 several hundred miles off the coast of Brazil. 
 
 It was REMUS 6000 that in November 2015 took some side sonar images that found the San Jose in more than 2,000 feet (600 meters) of water. 
 
 The vehicle descended to 30 feet (9 meters) above the wreck to take several photographs, including some of the distinctive dolphin engravings on the San Jose's cannons, a key piece of visual evidence. 
 
 "The wreck was partially sediment-covered, but with the camera images from the lower altitude missions, we were able to see new details in the wreckage and the resolution was good enough to make out the decorative carving on the cannons," said WHOI engineer and expedition leader Mike Purcell. 
 
 "It was a pretty strong feeling of gratification to finally find it," said Munier, who was not at the site but learned in a phone call from Purcell. "It was a great moment." 
 
 The treasure has been the subject of legal battles between several nations as well as private companies. Several weeks ago, UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, called on Colombia not to commercially exploit the wreck, whose exact location remains a state secret. 
 
 As for the treasure, that remains on the sea bed — for now. ||||| In 1708, the San José— a Spanish galleon ship carrying a stash of gold, silver and emeralds — sank during a fierce battle against the British in the Caribbean Sea. Now, after sitting at the bottom of the ocean for 310 years, the San José's shipwreck has finally been officially identified, thanks to an analysis of the distinctive bronze cannons that sank with the ship. 
 
 These bronze cannons still have ornate dolphins engraved on them, according to recordings made by the REMUS 6000, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that got within 30 feet (9.1 meters) of the shipwreck in 2015, according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). 
 
 Although WHOI has known these details since 2015, only recently did affiliated agencies — Maritime Archaeology Consultants (MAC), Switzerland AG and the Colombian government — give the researchers permission to release the details to the public. [See Photos of the San Jose Shipwreck] 
 
 The San José was equipped with 62 guns, but it was no match against the British. Warships would have escorted the San José and its treasures on most of its trips from the New World to Europe every year. In fact, when it sank, the San José was carrying a treasure mined in Peru that, today, is worth between $4 billion and $17 billion, Live Science previously reported. These riches were intended to help fuel the long-running War of Spanish Succession, a conflict the Spanish and French were fighting against the English. 
 
 The REMUS 6000 as it is deployed off the Colombian Navy research ship ARC Malpelo. Credit: Mike Purcell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
 
 But in 1708, the warship escorts were delayed, and the Spanish commander, Admiral José Fernandez de Santillan, count of Casa Alegre, decided to set sail anyway. That was a big mistake. Four English ships confronted the San José and its crew of more than 500 men. After a bloody cannon fight, the San José erupted into flames and sank to the bottom of the ocean. 
 
 Treasure hunters and archaeologists have been trying to locate it ever since. 
 
 That goal was accomplished on Nov. 27, 2015, when an international team of scientists found a shipwreck while aboard the Colombian Navy research ship ARC Malpelo, WHOI said. The wreck was found about 2,000 feet (600 m) underwater in a search that was approved by the Colombian Ministry of Culture. 
 
 However, at the time, it wasn't clear whether the wreck was actually that of the San José or of another ship. So, in 2015, WHOI sent the REMUS 6000, which had helped initially locate the shipwreck off of Colombia's Barú Peninsula, to take a closer look. 
 
 "The REMUS 6000 was the ideal tool for the job, since it's capable of conducting long-duration missions over wide areas," Mike Purcell, WHOI engineer and expedition leader, said in a statement. 
 
 The AUV's recordings showed that the ship was partially covered in sediment. The decorative carving on the cannons, filmed during a subsequent dive, allowed Roger Dooley, the lead marine archaeologist at MAC, to confirm that the wreck was the San José, WHOI said. 
 
 Teacups at the shipwreck site Credit: REMUS image, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
 
 The San José has considerable cultural and historical significance, as it holds artifacts that will help historians learn about Europe's economic, social and political climate during the early 18th century, WHOI noted. The Colombian government plans to build a museum and conservation laboratory to preserve and display the shipwreck's contents, including its cannons and ceramics. 
 
 The REMUS 6000 is owned by the Dalio Foundation and operated by WHOI. The vehicle has also played a key role in other deep-sea missions. In 2009, it helped find the wreckage of Air France Flight 447, the plane that crashed when it was flying from Brazil to France. And in 2010, the AUV helped map and photograph the Titanic's wreck site, WHOI said. 
 
 Original article on Live Science.
– With treasure worth up to $17 billion still at the bottom of the sea, experts aren't ready to disclose the exact location of a Spanish galleon sunk during a battle in 1708—but they did have other details on the "holy grail of shipwrecks" to reveal this week. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has disclosed for the first time that its REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle found the wreck of the San Jose in more than 2,000 feet of water in late 2015, the AP reports. "We've been holding this under wraps out of respect for the Colombian government," says WHOI official Rob Munier. The institution says it was initially unclear whether the wreck detected at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea was the San Jose or another vessel, Live Science reports. The REMUS 6000 descended to within 30 feet of the largely sediment-covered wreck, allowing researchers to spot identifying details including the distinctive dolphins carved on the galleon's cannons. The 62-gun galleon, laden with gold, silver, and emeralds, was sunk with 600 people on board by British ships during the War of Spanish Succession. Colombia says it plans to display the cannons and other items from the wreck in a museum. The treasure has yet to be recovered, and United Nations cultural agency UNESCO has urged Colombia not to commercially exploit the wreck. (The search for MH370 may have solved some maritime mysteries.)