The Reefs of Taprobane: Underwater Adventures Around Ceylon

by Arthur C. Clarke

The second in the Blue Planet Trilogy features a fascinating journey through the Australia's Great Barrier Reef with the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey as the guide. Reprint.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Stories, works of noted British writer, scientist, and underwater explorer Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, include 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

This most important and influential figure in 20th century fiction spent the first half of his life in England and served in World War II as a radar operator before migrating to Ceylon in 1956. He co-created his best known novel and movie with the assistance of Stanley Kubrick.

Clarke, a graduate of King's College, London, obtained first class honours in physics and mathematics. He served as past chairman of the interplanetary society and as a member of the academy of astronautics, the royal astronomical society, and many other organizations.

He authored more than fifty books and won his numerous awards: the Kalinga prize of 1961, the American association for the advancement Westinghouse prize, the Bradford Washburn award, and the John W. Campbell award for his novel Rendezvous with Rama. Clarke also won the nebula award of the fiction of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979, the Hugo award of the world fiction convention in 1974 and 1980. In 1986, he stood as grand master of the fiction of America. The queen knighted him as the commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Reviews

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sir Arthur C. Clarke died in March of 2008 at the age of 90. He had been well known to me mostly as a scientist and science fiction writer. As a teenager I had read 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey Two, and Childhoods End. When I became a scuba diver as an adult, I heard he had written a few books set under the sea, but I was not really familiar with his diving adventures. With his recent passing I finally began to read some of these stories. What I found was that Sir Clarke was a pioneer of inner space as well as outer space.

Clarke became interested in the undersea world in the 1950's. In 1955, Athur C. Clarke was stuck in Sri Lanka on his way to the Great Barrier Reef with his partner Mike Wilson. He would later move to the island. Clarke was attracted to the islands rich marine life. Clarke wrote, "When I arrived in Sri Lanka, I was a little disillusioned with life beneath the waves. I remember writing at the time that ultimately ocean life was crippled, because fish could not develop fire and fire is the basis of all technology. But when I saw first hand the amazing variety of m arine life beneath the waves off the Sri Lankan coast, I found it hard to believe that anything we encounter in space could be more wonderful, weirder or more spectacular."

Sir Clarke's adventures in Ceylon (the pearl of the Orient) are told in the book, "The Reefs of Taprobane". I picked up my rather dusty copy among the stacks of the Strand bookstore near Manhattan's Unions Square. Here Arthur C. Clarke, his diving partner Mike Wilson, and pioneering diver/naturalist Rodney Jonklaas explore the romantic seas and beautiful reefs surrounding the island of Ceylon. During their travels Mr. Clarke and Mr. Wilson lived among the locals. They witnessed first hand practices such as the use of dynamite to stun and catch fish – blowing up everything for metres around. This completely illegal activity has continued over the years, depleting fish stocks and impacting the islands reefs.

The book is definitely a 1950's time capsule. Sir Clarke takes the reader along with him on his expedition to Ceylon. We are given a glimpse of the vagaries of air travel, the difficulties of photographing underwater (the group used a Leica and a Rolleiflex automat for their underwater shots) and the hiring of servants and staff. We are also part of some amazing undersea diving adventures. On a wreck near Akurala reef, the group encounters the wreck of the Conch. Here Sir Clarke and company encounter a giant grouper. Subsequently Sir Clarke is surprised to find that the casing to his Leica camera has flooded. Surprisingly, Sir Clarke gets the camera to work again after rinsing it with fresh water. On the wreck of the Hardingham the group has another interesting camera incident. During this time underwater photography required the use of flashbulbs. While treading water near their launch after their dive, the group encounters a large shark. Luckily the shark was more interested in snapping up one of the spent flash bulbs bobbing on the surface of the water rather than one of the divers. We are also given a picture of fish collecting during this time. At one point in the novel, Sir. Clarke journeys with Rodney Jonklaas to inland waterways. Among the leeches and jungle, the two collect freshwater fish for the very profitable tropical fish collecting trade.

Sir Clarke takes the reader on adventures among shipwrecks, tropical reefs, and an amazing culture. For many years after the publication of this book and moving to Sri Lanka, Sir Clarke dived the beautiful reefs around the island. He started a diving company with Mike Wilson called, "Clarke Wilson Associates", and later "Submarine Safaris". He also was eventually witness as these reefs were almost entirely destroyed, largely by mining for construction material in a country with few limestone resources. Clarke was pained by this, and20it is said that he could never bring himself to write about corals again. He was horrified at how the world of reefs he loved had vanished, practically without a trace. In time, Sir Clarke worked to persuade the government of Sri Lanka to create the Hikkaduwa marine reserve, the country's first marine sanctuary. The Reefs of Taprobane is a book that should be in any serious divers library, as it tells of an undersea world that is mostly lost to us in the present.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wrote a review: http://www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blo...

[Steely]

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