[5] San José was designed by Francisco Antonio Garrote and built by Pedro de Aróstegui at the shipyard in Mapil, Usurbil, Gipuzkoa, Spain.

During the battle, the powder magazines of San José detonated, destroying and sinking the ship with most of her crew and the gold, silver, emeralds and jewelry collected in the South American provinces to finance the Spanish king's war effort.

[7] A group of investors from the United States called Glocca Mora Co., operating under the name 'Sea Search Armada' (SSA) - spearheaded by noted historian Dr. Eugene Lyon, best known for having located and positively identified La Nuestra Senora de la Atocha and others - claimed to have found the shipwreck off the coast of Colombia in 1981. but Colombia refused to sign a 65%/35% share offer and refused SSA permission to conduct full salvage operations at the wreck site.

[7] On 27 November 2015, the galleon San José was found in a different place by the Colombian Navy, although the discovery was not announced by then President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos until 5 December.

[18] The director of the ICANH, Ernesto Montenegro, has stated that soil and sea depth studies are being carried out in order to examine the methods of extraction of the ship's contents.

The Inspector General also requested that a representative sum of the coins, ingots, and gemstones, which are not considered to be cultural patrimony under the concept of repetition, must be given to the central bank, Banco de la República, for preservation.

[22] According to the Minister, Colombia sees the discovery as a project of investigation that implies the creation of laboratories that will include the entailment of specialists from different work areas, in order to properly study the shipwreck and its contents.