This chipped off stamp of Sri Lanka shows the Little Basses Reef Lighthouse, an offshore lighthouse in Sri Lanka that is operated and maintained by the Sri Lankan Navy. It is located on a reef called Kuda Ravana Kotuwa (Fort of Little Ravana), but when the British invaded Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) they named it Little Basses (after the Great Basses Reef Lighthouse located close-by).
The two Basses lighthouses, 'Great' and 'Little', are among the most famous offshore lighthouses of Asia. They withstood the force of the tsunami in 2004 with only modest damage.
The Great Basses reef is the site of an early 18th-century wreck of an Indian ship, carrying a treasure of silver rupees.













