On July 6th, 1973, the Cherry Venture was driven aground in a wild storm at Double Island Point on Noosa's North Shore. The 1600 ton Singapore owned cargo ship, manned by 19 Malaysian, Filipino and Chinese crewmen with an Indonesian captain, was bound for Brisbane from New Zealand when it was caught in what was described as the worst storm in living memory. The first distress signals from the captain were picked up at 5:50 a.m. as the ship foundered in 12 meter waves and 140 kph winds. Seven hours later the ship ran aground after its anchor cable broke. It lay in n upright position on the beach facing South and continued to be buffeted by gale force winds and huge waves breaking over her. Two RAAF Iroquois helicopters were dispatched from Amberly Air Base at 9:30 a.m. that morning before the Cherry Venture ran aground but it took another six hours before they could reach the scene because of the continuing intensity of the storm

Displaying extraordinary flying skills in the atrocious conditions, with visibility at less than 200 metres, the RAAF helicopter crews safely winched all crewmen from the ship and shuttled them to nearby Tin Can Bay. The entire rescue took two hours. There was no loss of life. Attempts were made to refloat the Cherry Venture by digging out sand from around it and filling the excavation with water. Although the vessel was able to be turned around, it was not able to be pulled back out to sea and the idea was abandoned. Since then, the rusting red wreck of the Cherry Venture has become a tourism landmark on the North Shore of the Sunshine Coast and is a favourite stopping off place for visitors from throughout Australia and all around the world.