Foundered in Foveaux strait, on Monday November 14, 1892. All hands were saved, and landed at Pahia point the following day, where they were cared for by the settlers. The master stated that the Camille sailed from Rocky Island, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, on August 28, bound for Bluff, with a cargo of about 300 tons of guano. She met with a heavy gale on November 2, when she was 150 miles south of Tasmaina. as the vessel was straining and leaking badly the pumps were kept going continuously.The gale moderated on November 5, and the leak was less serious, but on the 11th, the brigantine was about 350 miles off the New Zealand coast, another terrific gale was encountered. The vessel was then running under lower topsail only, labouring heavily, and making water very fast. On the 13th the weather again moderated and the master did not expect anything serious to happen, but at 2 o’clock on the morning of the 14th, the boatswain reported that something was wrong with the pump. The captain at once went on deck and found guano coming up with the water, thus showing a considerable depth of water in the hold. All hands were called and set to work pumping, but they could make no impression, so the boats were got ready without delay. The pumping was resumed, but with no effect, and, looking over the side in darkness, the captain could see that the vessel was settling down fast.
All hope of saving the ship having gone, the captain, his wife, and four men took one boat, and three men took the other. They pulled for Foveaux Strait with the intention of making the Bluff. Three-quarters of an hour later, or just before the break of day, they saw the vessel go down. They sailed and pulled alternately all morning, expecting to land at Te Waewae Bay, but they could not do so owing to the heavy sea on the beach. The shipwrecked crew had to lay off the land all night in drenching rain, none of them having more than the clothes that they stood in. On Tuesday, November 15,they tried to make Centre Island under sail, but the wind changed, and they put in at Pahia Bay, near Orepuki, where the settlers treated them with great kindness.
The Camille, No. 57,379, was a wooden brigantine of 221 tons register, built at Nantes, France, in 1867, as a brig, and her dimensions were : length 100 ft, beam 26 ft, depth 12 ft. She was owned by Messrs. H. Guthrie and W. Henderson, of Dunedin, and was commanded by Captain William Woebling. The brigantine was valued at One Thousand, One Hundred Pounds, Sterling, and insured for Nine Hundred Pound, Sterling. Her cargo was fully insured in Australia. She sank twenty miles south-west of Puysegur Point.
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