www.DiveSriLanka.com - Ship Wrecks

For millennia, paths of travelers 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 islands 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 ship wrecks of Sri Lanka, testimonials of a rich and long cultural history and portals from the present to a bygone era that once were.

Based on historical records there are over 200+ estimated ship wrecks 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 the British resulted in vast amount of shipping traffic all around the coast of Sri Lanka and thus the reason for the proportionately high number of wrecks.

Wreck and Year of sinking	Location	Depth	Boat Time*	Our Rating	Commercial Dive Center Access	Worth mentioning...
Taprobane North Wreck	Colombo	40M	1.5 H	World Class	Yes	A massive ship, intact and lying on pristine sand. A haven for shoals of fish and a place of pristine wilderness and 30M+ Visibility!
Taprobane North Barge	Colombo	40M	1.5 H	Excellent	Yes	A smaller wreck located not far from the above wreck. Similarly pristine conditions and covered with colorful soft coral
Taprobane North	Colombo	26M	1.5 H	Excellent	Yes	A unique garden of Soft Coral. A rare find in Sri Lanka!
Taprobane East Wreck	Colombo	32M	45 Min	Excellent	Yes	In the pristine far off shore reefs of Taprobane the visibility is over 20M on average. Here in an Caribbean like setting we have our Heaven on Earth. A picturesque ship wreck that is a must dive.
Battery barge	Colombo	45M	30 Min	Excellent	Yes	A deep oasis full of fish life and colorful corals. its generally too deep for a proper single tank dive so is a favorite for Technical Divers.
Cargo Wreck	Colombo	33M	30 Min	Excellent	Yes	A huge intact cargo ship which was sunk recently. Identity yet to be discovered but supposedly an Indian steel carrier that sunk in 1993. The ship lies on its starboard side and provides a huge area for exploration.
Trug	Colombo	33M	30 Min	Excellent	Yes	A huge sunken barge that rests up side down. All the action is at 30M and the site is full of Lion Fish who are easy to approach. In addition various other marine life such as small Groupers, Pufferfish, Trevally and Stingrays can be seen
Hardingham	Colombo (Harbor.)	21M	N/A	Not Evaluated	Special permission required	The Hardingham blew up after being towed out of the Colombo Harbor where she caught fire.
The Conch	Hikkaduwa	20M	45 Min	Excellent	Yes	A "should do" dive for the wreck enthusiast! One of our favorite sites. Click here for more information about the wreck and pictures.
Earl of Shaftesbury	Hikkaduwa	12-14M	35 min	Good	Yes	An old British iron sale ship. Literally a "wreck" but significant components are still recognizable and a decent dive experience on a sandy bottom.
Norsa	Hikkaduwa	15M	35 min	Not Evaluated	Yes	A British steam ship build in 1889
Aenos 1956	Dodanduwa	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes	A freighter of Greek origin carrying 6000 tons of Manganese, struck a rock called "Rala Gala" in early 1956.
Arcturus	Galle	18M	60 Min	Not Evaluated	Yes	A British steam ship built in 1870. An area known as the "Mada Gala" or the "Brown Rock" close to Galle is the final resting place of this ship.
Alliance	Galle	23M		Not Evaluated	Yes	A wooden sail boat with charcoal onboard. British origin.
Avondster 1659	Galle (Harbor)	5M	5 Min	Not Evaluated	Special permission required	The Avondster, owned by the Dutch East India (VOC) company (but originally and English sip), was partly loaded with Areca nuts when it sank after slipping anchor and hitting the shore. The site is 50 M away from the Marine Drive in Galle and lies in the heart of the Harbor.
Bottle Wreck	Galle	24M	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes	An unknown ship lying on a sandy bottom in front of Galle harbor.
Crispigi Cross	Galle	16M	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes	The Cross had it's cargo holds full of rice and paint when it sank in front of the Galle Hospital in the 80's.
Dolfijn 1663	Galle (Harbor.)	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Special permission required	A VOC ship sank in the Galle Harbor. because of neglect and poor maintenance. The crew was too exhausted to operate the ship properly after operating the pumps day by day to keep her from sinking as she had taken in a great amount of water.
Ethopy 1877	Galle	15M	60 Min	Not Evaluated	Yes	The Engine and many large sections of this cargo ship can be explored.
Hercules 1661	Galle (Harbor.)	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Special permission required	Discovered in 1993 by the Western Australian Maritime Museum which was assisting the Government of Sri Lanka conserve the extensive legacy of wrecks around Sri Lanka (Galle Harbor. Project). The wreck was discovered with the finding of a heavily encrusted bronze bell with the inscription 'AMOR VINCIT OMNIA ANNO 1625' . A search through the Dutch Archives and a 17th century map of Galle placed the bell at the same location of the wreck. About 30 large Cannons were later located from the same site (South of Gibblet Island)
Lord Nelson	Galle	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes	A modern boat that sank in a storm in the year 2000.
Orestes	Galle (Harbor.)	16M		Not Evaluated	Yes	A British cargo steam ship carrying bricks.
Rangoon	Galle	30M	20 Min	Excellent	Yes	This is a sailing steam ship built in 1863 and sank just outside the Galle harbor. Built in 1863 by Samuda Bros, London this ship rests in a upright sailing position and is claimed to be a beautiful wreck.
Flute Overness 1704	Great Basses	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes with special arrangement
Alette Adriana 1760's	Great Basses	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes with special arrangement
Daedulus	Little Basses	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated	Yes with special arrangement	The 40 gun frigate Daedulus sunk 2nd of July 1813
H.M.S Hermes	Batticaloa	42M-54M	N/A	Lifetime Experience (Excellent+)	Yes with special arrangement	This is the famous British Air Craft Carrier H.M.S Hermes which was sunk by Japanese ZERO's during World War II in 1942. A dive for the very experienced only.
MV Cordiality	Pulmudai	18M	10 Mins from Pulmudai or 2 Hours from Trinco	Excellent	Yes	One of the best ship wreck dives in Sri Lanka! The massive MV Cordiality with a full load of the mineral Ilmonite was sunk off the coast of Pulmudai by LTTE Terrorists in the late 90's. Now more than a decade later this is a haven for Fishlife!
Admiralty Floating Dock 23	Trincomalee (Harbor)	Unknown	N/A	Not Evaluated	Special permission required	One of the largest ship wrecks in the world, this 80,000 Ton dry dock is over 1000 ft long and 200 ft wide. AFD23 was moored beside the 30,000 Ton battleship Valiant when a giant buoyancy tank broke loose. The impact of these tanks from AFD23 caused extensive damage to the Valiant and thus she was retired from service. Here is an amazing and hitherto unheard account of the sinking of Admiralty Floating Dock 23 on August 08, 1944 at the Trincomalee Harbor. This account is brought to us by Geoff Spooner as narrated to him by his father Commander Spooner RN Rtd. At that time Commander Spooner was Executive Chief Engineering Officer in HMS Renown and experienced the sinking first hand.
Irrakandy Wreck	Trincomalee	9.5M	40 Min	Excellent	Yes	One of our favorite dive sites in Trinco. The ship is really a wreck but full of fish all the time. If you are lucky you'll be visited by the Captain... Click here for more info and pictures.
Kapungoda Wreck 1	Negombo	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated		A ship wreck lying south of Negombo.
Kapungoda Wreck 2	Negombo	Unknown	Unknown	Not Evaluated		A ship wreck lying south of Negombo.

	One of the most beautiful deep wrecks of Sri Lanka off Colombo		For millennia, paths of travelers 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 islands 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 ship wrecks of Sri Lanka, testimonials of a rich and long cultural history and portals from the present to a bygone era that once were. Based on historical records there are over 200+ estimated ship wrecks 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 the British resulted in vast amount of shipping traffic all around the coast of Sri Lanka and thus the reason for the proportionately high number of wrecks.

	Listed below are few of these very famous ship wrecks that are hundreds of years old. Wreck diving in Sri Lanka is an amazing experience not to be missed by any diver visiting this land. Welcome to the past!