The schooner was totally wrecked at Bluff in 1845. The Success was stated to have arrived at Bluff with stores from Otago. Captain Stirling went ashore to his house at Stirling Point, while his crew adjourned to Spencers Tavern, leaving only an anchor watch on board. The crew subsequently returned to the schooner and when heaving up the anchor the cable fouled. Before anything could be done to prevent it, the vessel was carried onto the rocks.While some books dealing with the early history of Southland give 1844 as the year of the wreck, the following two items of shipping news in the Wellington newspapers indicate that the schooner was lost at least a year later. The Zealand Spectator and Cook Strait Guardian of May 10, 1845, reports that, “ The schooner Success left Sydney for the Bluff with whaling stores on April 12, 1845”, and the Wellington Independent of the same date states, “The Success, schooner, Captain Bromley, left Sydney for the Bluff on 15th April, with ten respectable passengers.”
The Success was a schooner of 82 tons register, owned by Captain Stirling. She had been associated with the whaling industry on the New Zealand coast since 1835, and in July 1839, was purchased by “Johnny” Jones, her master at the time being Captain Edward Catlin, after whom the Catlins River is named. This schooner was the first locally owned whaler at the Bluff.
