22/11/2014 - About 2 km west of Panadura, a massive submerged rock waits for it next unsuspecting victim. Rising from a depth of about 13m, the top of this rock is about 2 metres below the surface. Over the centuries many ships seem to have run foul to these dangerous rocks. When I first explored this site in 2010 on a brief survey I thought it was just one steam ship lying here. Now it turns out that there is at least 2 if not more. Strangely no documented incident seemed to have occurred in these waters. Then some intense research revealed that a steam ship called Justitia had sunk on this rock.

There are clearly two wrecks. The north-wreck is smaller and runs north to south. The larger south- wreck lies in the shape of a triangle. It seems that this ship had hit the Nilkete rock amidships. Then the fore and the stern seemed to have split apart into two pieces and drifted east before sinking. These two pieces are connected by the large and ominous Nilkete rock. The south wreck is a single screw ship. All over this crash site one can find boilers in 3 locations, and anchors in 3 locations.

More research needs to be done on this site.

This is a great site for Open Water students or for anyone simply interested in shipwrecks.