Koddiyar Bay

Koddiyar Bay is the broad southern part of the Trincomalee harbour system on Sri Lanka's eastern coast. Its sheltered anchorage connected ocean-going ships with the Kandyan kingdom. In 1660, the English ship Ann came here after losing its mainmast in a storm off India. Merchants brought cloth to trade while the crew sought timber and repaired the ship. Robert Knox and his father were then detained by the king's officers, beginning the younger Knox's long captivity inland.

Knox's later account describes Koddiyar as a place where trade, repair and royal authority met. He also recalled that the king had formerly collected customs from small vessels using Cotiar, before Dutch restrictions curtailed that revenue. In the early 1670s, a French fleet under de La Haye entered the bay and obtained Kandyan help to build a fort. Difficulties supplying the fleet forced its departure; the Dutch subsequently captured the position. The anchorage consequently became a meeting point for rival maritime powers and inland royal diplomacy.