After returning from Quebec, Canada with a cargo of timber, the ship set sail from Limerick on Friday, 15 November 1850. On the ship at the time were 195 passengers and a crew of 21, including the captain John Wilson and first mate William Thompson. The ship sailed down the Shannon River and on the 17th, anchored at Carrigaholt for the night. On the 18th, the ship left the river and sailed past Loop Head into the Atlantic. After a full day of sailing, a fierce winter storm struck, blowing the ship back towards the Clare coast. The captain's attempts to steer the brig back up the Shannon were futile, as the gale had destroyed the sails and two of the three masts were lost. By Tuesday 19 November all attempts at keeping the ship away from the shore ended in failure and at around 11 pm that night, she was blown into Kilkee Bay.At first the ship ran aground on the reef at the mouth of the bay, now called the Pollack Holes, but as the tide was very high, the wind drove the ship further into the bay and eventually onto the rocks less than from Sykes House. As the ship foundered so close to the shore, Mr Richard Russell, the owner of Sykes House, and his servant Henry Likely rushed down to the rocks to help. When the captain saw the lights of these two men, and saw that the rocks were passable, he ordered the third mast to be cut down and to be used as a gangway for the passengers and crew to escape to the rocks. Mr Russell was soon joined by three members of the Clare Coast Guard, and they began to assist the passengers from the rocks and onto the land below Sykes House. All the time the tide was rising and after about 100 people had been landed on the rock, it became impossible to assist more.
