The recovery of a shipwreck laden with up to $17billion worth of treasure will move a step closer today when Colombia's government announces which company will win the rights to salvage it.

The galleon San Jose went down off the coast of Cartagena more than 300 years ago when it was sunk by the Royal Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession.

It was carrying a vast haul of gold and silver coins as well as emeralds and precious stones which were meant to return to Spain to help finance the war.

The ownership of the treasure has been fiercely disputed since the boat was found in 2015, the Miami Herald reported, but the fight is on the verge of being resolved.

Finally found: Colombia announced in 2015 that researchers had found the wreck of the San José, a Spanish galleon that was sunk 300 years ago carrying gold and precious stones

Sea Search Armada, a company which claimed it had discovered the shipwreck in 1982, has said it should be entitled to half the ship's treasures.

A court decision in 2007 said they would be entitled to split the winnings equally with the government but the state claims the ship belongs to them.

The Colombian government said it had found the shipwreck without the company's help in 2015 and that the co-ordinates SSA provided had been wrong.

A deadline was set for today for prospective rescuers to bid for the job of salvaging the centuries-old vessel.

Swiss-based firm Marine Archaeology Consultants are reportedly among the leading bidders for the project along with SSA.

But incoming Colombian president Iván Duque, who will take office on August 7, has said the process of choosing a rescuer for the ship had been 'shameful', National Geographic reported.

Images taken underwater showed the wreckage of the San Jose after it was found in 2015

Experts sent down a deep-sea camera to examine the ship's wreckage when it was found

Sonar images images spotted bronze cannons made for the ship, arms and ceramics

A map shows where the San Jose was sunk by the British Navy more than 300 years ago

SSA are set to sue the Colombian government if they are not awarded the rights and the treasure that comes with them.

The San Jose was found submerged off the coast of Baru in what is now Colombia, near the Rosario Islands, in November 2015.

Experts sent down a deep-sea camera to examine the wreckage ahead of a planned salvage operation, with sonar images revealing arms, ceramics and bronze cannons made specifically for the ship.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, the Colombian president said at the time it was 'one of the greatest - if not the biggest, as some say - discoveries of submerged patrimony in the history of mankind'.

The San Jose was sunk during an attack by Britain's Royal Navy in 1708 in the Caribbean Sea close to the walled port city of Cartagena.

It was discovered by a team of international experts, the Colombian Navy and the country's archaeology institute.