How to find a billion-dollar shipwreck

Julian Sancton tells the extraordinary story of Roger Dooley – a maverick maritime archaeologist who embarked on a decades-long search for a sunken Spanish galleon

Published: April 17, 2026 at 8:49 AM

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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.

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In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, Julian Sancton tells Jon Bauckham about Dooley’s incredible search, set against a backdrop of secrecy, sacrifice and Cold War tensions.

Authors

Jon BauckhamDigital commissioning editor

Jon Bauckham is the digital commissioning editor at HistoryExtra

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