Great Basses wreck
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Great Basses wreck | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Sea / ocean | INDIAN OCEAN | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Sri Lanka | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 19 km from land |
| Position | 6.1806, 81.4806 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
The Great Basses wreck is an early 18th-century shipwreck on Great Basses Reef, about 12 km off the south coast of Sri Lanka, discovered by Arthur C. Clarke and Mike Wilson in 1961. The ship, ultimately identified as belonging to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, yielded fused bags of silver rupees, cannons, and other artifacts. The discovery was carefully documented and became the basis for Clarke's 1964 book The Treasure of the Great Reef.
A clump of rupees from the wreck was featured on the History Channel series Pawn Stars in the episode "Shocking Chum" (this segment was shown again in "Greatest Gambles").
Location
- Recorded position: 6.1806, 81.4806 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: INDIAN OCEAN
- Nearest coast: Sri Lanka
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Great Basses wreck (revision 1366198674), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Hollyhock 140 km
- HMS Hermes 170 km
- HMAS Vampire 1942 · 170 km
- HMS Tenedos 199 km
Browse more: Asia wrecks · wrecks off Sri Lanka · INDIAN OCEAN