For millennia, paths of travellers from strange lands beyond and yonder have fallen across a small island of paradise in the Indian Ocean that will one day be known as Sri Lanka.
Traders and invaders have come and gone; remnants of their legacy evident only by the infusion to the island's culture and the derelict remains of their transportation, once mighty symbols of trade, commerce and imperial power, now mere echoes from the past resting beneath the waves of the coastal seas.
These are the ancient shipwrecks of Sri Lanka, testimonials of a rich and long cultural history and portals from the present to a bygone era that once was.
Based on historical records, there are over 200+ estimated shipwrecks around the coast of Sri Lanka. Many have been located, and the search continues to this day using advanced resonance scanning technology.
Five hundred years of trade, commerce, conflict and war from the times of the Portuguese, Dutch and British resulted in a vast amount of shipping traffic all around the coast of Sri Lanka and thus the reason for the proportionately high number of wrecks.
When an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book, it has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing.
| Wreck and Year of sinking | Location Name | Depth (Meters) |
Boat Time* Minute |
Our Rating |
Dive Center Access |
Worth mentioning... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BULLET PROOF VIP CAR Wreck | Dive Negombo | 25 M | 30 Mins | 5 | Yes | These cars, which were termed “too strong to be crushed” due to their sturdy build and nature, were also unable to be auctioned off as they could have been extremely dangerous had they fallen into the wrong hands. |
| Cardinal Barge | Dive Colombo | 29 M | 90 Mins | Below Average | Yes | A small wreck, in a bad state but with reasonably good marine life, namely Cardinalfish and Snappers. Not really worth diving if you are diving off Mount Lavinia, South of Colombo |
| Black coral wreck | Dive Colombo | 40 M | 40 Mins | Excellent | Yes | A medium sized wreck witha single boiler covered with beautiful black coral. Reccommended for technical divers. |
| Lotus Barge | Dive Colombo | 28 M | 35 Mins | Excellent | Yes | A small barge resplendent with marine life. Simillar to the Toilet Barge |
