Soft Drinks In The Time Of Cholera

February 23, 2009

Archaeologists conducting research on a wreck sunk off the coast of Sri Lanka have recovered several unopened bottles containing a 168 year-old carbonated lemon beverage.

Dubbed the “Bottle Ship,” the wreck - 23 metres long and six metres wide - was discovered two months ago at a depth of six metres off the village of Kirinda, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

According to Colombo' Sunday Times, the trade-marked bottles were manufactured by Clarke Romer & Co. Ceylon in 1840.

Advertisements appearing at that time indicate that the company’s product was in demand during a cholera epidemic.