As part of the Spanish treasure fleet, the galleon was packed to the gills with gold, silver, and gems when British warships sank it on June 8, 1708. By some estimates, the treasure-laden vessel may be worth as much as $17 billion today.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos officially announced the discovery on Twitter, and held a press conference in Cartagena revealing further details on Saturday.

"At dawn on Friday, November 27, feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, with the assistance of the Navy and of international scientists, found an archaeological site which corresponds to the [...] galleon San Jose," Santos said. "This constitutes one of the greatest—if not the biggest as some say—discoveries of submerged patrimony in the history of mankind."

The exact location of the lost ship remains a state secret, but the Colombian government did release footage of the wreckage procured by robotic submarines.