On May 27, 1889, the schooner ran onto the rocks at Tiwai Point, at the entrance to Bluff Harbour, quickly filled, and became a total wreck. The vessel was bound from Lyttleton to Bluff in ballast when she missed stays and was driven onto the rocks.The Elizabeth and Ulvaria Cameron, No. 53,995, was a schooner of 40 tons register, built at Heathcote Valley, Canterbury, in November 1867, by Cameron Brothers, of Heathcote, and her dimensions were : length 68.6 ft, beam 17.3 ft, depth 6 ft. The schooner was commanded by Captain Frederick England. The Elizabeth and Ulvaria Cameron was one of the oldest vessels belonging to Lyttleton and had been engaged chiefly in the timber trade between Heathcote, Lyttleton, and the bays of Banks Peninsula, occasionally making longer trips.
The schooner, which was not insured, was beginning to show signs of her 23 years work, and some months previous to her loss sustained considerable damage to her sternpost, rudder, and hull through bumping against the wharf during a gale at Lyttleton. On June 7, 1882, the schooner stranded in the Wanganui River, after being in a collision with the steamer Clyde.
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