Great Basses Silver Coin wreck excavation: Arthur C. Clarke and Mike Wilson diving records?
3 Answers from travellers
In 1961, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, Mike Wilson, and Rodney Jonklaas discovered the famous "Silver Coin Wreck" at Great Basses Reef. The vessel—an armed merchantman of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb that sank around 1702—was identified by thousands of solid silver rupees fused by marine corrosion into solid 1000-coin lumps that retained the shape of the rotting canvas money bags. Because the coins were struck at Surat in the 45th regnal year of Aurangzeb, their mint dates established an indisputable terminus post quem for the shipwreck. Today, remaining wreck structural frames are cemented into the surf-swept sandstone reef matrix and protected under national antiquity laws.
Recovered silver coins from the expedition are preserved in the Arthur C. Clarke estate archives and the National Maritime Museum in Galle Fort.
Heavy ocean surge over the reef ledges makes diving the historical site hazardous outside the short calm window between late February and April.
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