Struck French Reef.

The morning after the ships parted company off the Chathams the wind hauled into the south-east, and remained so until the night of March 20, when, after the ship had been caught aback a couple of times, the wind hauled suddenly to the south-west and began to blow hard. Sail was taken in during the night, and, the wind increasing, all hands were called at 2 a.m. to take in more sail. A couple of hours later the third mate reported that the ship was nearly ashore. The captain and mate were called at once, and though every effort was made to avoid the reefs under the ship's lee, it was soon seen to be hopeless. When morning came it was found that the ship was hard and fast on part of the French Reef, between Matarakau and Taupeka Point, Chatham Islands. At noon, the day before the disaster, the ship was about 25 miles west of the group, and laid a course to take her north and east of it, but it was subsequently stated that the chart and actual position of the Chatham Islands did not agree.

The boats were at once got out after the Ocean Mail struck, and passengers and crew got ashore. There were five passengers (Misses Harrison and Jenkins, Messrs. Cotter, Nathan, and Conway). Stores were also taken ashore, and carried up into the bush, where tents were pitched for the crew. The passengers and Captain Watson went to the house of a Maori, some couple of miles from the wreck. The weather, which had been fine, then broke, and there was so much surf that it was impossible to get off to the wreck. Eventually, however, the master made a survey of the wreck, and she was sold to one of the Chatham Island runholders for £945. Considering that she had a cargo worth £78,000 on board it was not a dear bargain, and it was not surprising that the other residents of the Group should protest that "the greatest indiscretion had been shown in disposing of the wreck." All the principal residents of Waitangi signed a protest to the insurance companies. There were nearly 5000 bales of wool aboard, and 400 tons of this was saved in a very short while, not to mention many casks of tallow.