Karl Schmidt Memorial

The Karl Schmidt Memorial stands on Elliot's Beach in Chennai as a stark, white structure, identifiable by its simple, arch-like form rising against the sand. Completed in nineteen thirty-one, the monument honors K. A. J. Schmidt, a Danish man who lost his life at this very spot on December thirtieth, nineteen thirty. Schmidt, who worked for the East Asiatic Company, had waded into the surf to rescue an English girl who was struggling against the tide. He succeeded in saving her, but he drowned in the attempt.