Diving the Aarhus

On 24 Februari 1894 the 170 feet long Danish barque Aarhus was on it's way from New York to Brisbane. It had sailed already for 122 days when it sank north of Moreton Island. It's cargo consisted of kerosene, wireballs, alarmclocks and glassware. She waited for the pilot. When the pilot did not arrive Captain Gram decided to sail the Aarhus to sea for the night. They had not gone far when the Aarhus hit Smiths Rock. They struck at around 08.50pm and in about fifteen minutes the Aarhus was sunk to the bottom. Fourteen members of the crew, including the Captain and his wife, could evacuate the ship safely in one of the boats. The survivors arrived on Moreton Island after three hours of rowing. In 1979 the remains of the Aarhus were found by the Underwater Research Group of Queensland.