At 3 am on 7 September, she ran aground with considerable force, on Big Harcar (also locally then known and pronounced as "Great Hawker"), one of the Outer Farne Islands. A group of eight sailors and a passenger (not identified) managed to lower and escape in a lifeboat, to be picked up the following morning by a passing schooner bound for Hull. The remaining passengers and crew were left to the mercy of the sea, which swung the Forfarshire around and tore off the stern quarterdeck and cabins, leaving only the bow and fore sections of the ship anchored to the rock.
