How to find a billion-dollar shipwreck
4/16/202636 min
In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José was sunk by a British warship off the coast of Colombia, vanishing beneath the waves with a treasure trove of unimaginable riches. The wreck's exact location remained a mystery for centuries – until a maritime archaeologist named Roger Dooley made it his life’s mission to find it. In this episode, Julian Sancton tells Jon Bauckham about Dooley’s incredible search, set against a backdrop of secrecy, sacrifice and Cold War tensions.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
[gentle music] In 1708, the Spanish galleon San Jose was sunk by a British warship off the coast of Colombia, vanishing beneath the waves with a treasure trove of unimaginable riches. The wreck's exact location remained a mystery for centuries until a maritime archeologist named Roger Dooley made it his life's mission to find it. In this episode of the History Extra podcast, author and journalist Julian Sancton tells John Baucom about Dooley's extraordinary search and the personal sacrifices he made along the way.
Jon Bauckham· Host0:39
Julian, firstly, welcome to the History Extra podcast.
Julian Sancton· Guest0:43
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.
Jon Bauckham· Host0:44
So Julian, this is a book that covers more than 300 years of history, but at its core, it's a story about one man and one man's particular obsession. Just introduce us to Roger Dooley. Who is he, and how did you come to meet him?
Julian Sancton· Guest0:58
Roger Dooley is indeed the protagonist of my book. He's a wonderfully colorful, enigmatic figure. He's an American-born Cuban maritime archeologist who for many years worked under the Castro regime as the scientific director of a company called CARI-Sub, which was Cuba's state-sponsored treasure hunting company. As much as Roger objected to treasure hunting, Castro was desperate for treasure, desperate for cash, and he thought he could find it at the bottom of the