Stranded in Fog on Southeast point of Santa Rosa Island due to fog and stormy northwest. Although a lookout was maintained and speed was cut in half to four knots at 15 minutes before midnight, the vessel struck rocks just as the watch spotted them and gave the alarm. Reversing the engines merely caused the vessel to settle deeper. Over the next few hours, the waves and current pivoted the vessel to starboard, or east, tearing large holes in the starboard hull. As day broke, the crew could at last determine that they were on an island, rather than on an isolated rock. The vessel had wrecked at Ford Point on the south coast of Santa Rosa Island. A search of the island, then a sheep ranch, during the day by crew members failed to locate any inhabitants. Eventually First Officer John Poole and a crew of five rowed to Santa Monica, giving word of the wreck after arriving the morning of November 11.

The tug Fearless departed San Francisco and reached the scene November 15, finding the Crown of England in very bad condition:

"....a total wreck. She lies broadside against the shore and her bottom is full of holes made by pounding on the rocks. When Capt. Haskell [skipper of the Fearless] visited her...he could put a plank from the shore to the steamer's bow and walk aboard....it will take a very short time to break the vessel in pieces" (LAT 16Nov 1894). Morris & Lima