Struck on a sunken rock and foundered 20 miles south-west of Pahia Point, Foveaux Strait, on January 14, 1870. The vessel sailed from Newcastle N.S.W., on January 9, bound for Otago, with a cargo of 620 tons of coal. On January 12, during a gale which attained hurricane force, the mate was washed overboard. At 6.45 p.m. on the 14th land was sighted, about eight miles off, and all hands were called to tack ship. This was done and she stood off the land, sailing at about four knots, until 10.16 p.m. when the barque struck heavily on a sunken rock, staving the whole bow in at one blow. No sign of breakers was seen to indicate the existence of the rock.All hands rushed to get out the boats, but the barque was sinking so fast that only the smallest could be launched. Fifteen persons embarked in the boat which was only 17 feet keel measurement, and square sterned, and a heavy sea was running. The first idea was to run through Foveaux Strait to bluff, but sighting a clump of rocks off Pahia Point, they pulled in between them and the mainland to seek shelter, finding, after four attempts, a sandy beach to land upon. It was time, for the boat was beginning to leak badly and the men were exhausted from fatigue and exposure.
The steward, who during the seventeen hours the boat was afloat, had skilfully steered her with a piece of board, went with two seamen to seek assistance. They reached a homestead and all supplied with food and dry clothing. Captain T. Gibson, who commanded the barque, later stated that it was a pinnacle rock on which the vessel struck, and lay 20 miles south-west of Pahia Point, which is 20 miles west of Riverton. The Laughing Water, No. 51,701, was a three masted wooden barque of 411 tons register, built at Bordeaux, France, in 1857, and her dimensions were : length 130 ft, beam 28.9 ft, depth 17.65 ft.
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