The Aahrus is a Protected Historic Shipwreck - permit from Qld Museum required to dive this site.

This old three-masted barque built in 1875 in Hamburg, Germany hit Smiths Rock and sank very quickly on 24 Feb 1894.  All the cargo of kerosene from New York was lost. Fancy going all that way, thousands of kilometres, blown along by the wind, only to drop all your cargo just before the finish line on the sand at Smiths Rock.  As the boat landed on her keel there is speculation that she would have stood almost upright for some time her masts and sails flagging in the wind some 30m above the waterline.  What a sight.  All hands were saved but the Danish authorities were not impressed with the Australian Maritime Board who took the Master’s licence from Captain Christian Gram of the Aarhus.  He argued that it was their fault as he signalled for a pilot but none turned up.  He was turning to anchor offshore to wait for a pilot when he hit the rock.