Scrolls & Leaves | Arthur C Clarke's treasure ship

Noted author Arthur C Clarke tries to unravel the mysteries of a shipwreck off Sri Lanka

Standing on the shores of Kirinda, Sri Lanka, the faint outlines of a large rock lay ten miles out in the Indian Ocean. The waves were turbulent here and the Great Basses coral reefs below were treacherous, snaring countless ships along the busy trade routes rounding the southeast coast of Sri Lanka, until a lighthouse was built in 1873.

Arthur C Clarke boarded a motorboat before dawn one day in April 1963 for the bumpy ride to the lighthouse. He was joined by fellow diver Mike Wilson, and Peter Throckmorton, an underwater archaeologist, along with tools, rope and other equipment. Two years earlier, they had discovered a shipwreck here and they finally had the money and equipment to begin excavations.

After unloading everything at the lighthouse into a dinghy, the men dived into the sea. But Arthur stayed in the rubber boat. He was still recovering from the almost total paralysis of post-polio syndrome and felt his body was not strong enough to support an oxygen tank for a dive. Instead, he slipped on flippers, face mask and snorkel and lay floating on the surface to watch as the men began their work.

“I had quite forgotten how pure and transparent this ocean water could be, and its crystal depths looked very attractive,” Clarke wrote in his book “The Treasure of the Great Reef.” “As soon as the dinghy came to a halt, I could see the divers at work, though they were still fifty feet away and thirty feet down … I swam over to them and had a perfect bird's eye view of operations.”

Small cannon were half buried in the coral and unearthed. Tapping through lumps of coral dislodged part of a lady's earring. Large anchors were scattered at the site. They made dozens of trips to the dinghy delivering the remnants of the shipwreck.

It was only in the middle of the afternoon that, Arthur writes, the whole situation altered. “Around 2 pm, Peter came rowing back, and I am never likely to forget his first words to me: ‘I've found the mother lode. There's at least a ton there.’ There was no need for explanations; I knew exactly what he meant.”

To find out what treasure was discovered at the bottom of the sea, listen to Episode 7 of the Scrolls & Leaves podcast. This episode is presented in immersive sound and you can place yourself in the scene if you listen with headphones.