The Lammermoor was wrecked on a passage from Australia to San Francisco in very thick weather. The man who commanded her, Captain Guthrie, was exonerated.

Her owners were J. Williamson and W. C. A. Milligan of the Waverly Line, two of the best-known owners of iron clippers in Liverpool. All their vessels were named after characters in Sir Walter Scott's stories, and they all carried lavish decorations of scenes and portraits from the Waverly novels. Lammermoor, and two of her sisters, Ivanhoe and Cedric The Saxon, were widely considered to be "three of the most beautiful iron clippers that ever left the ways."

Lammermoor was commanded first by G. Duncan, and after 1880 by J. D. Guthrie, who commanded her at the time of her loss. Davidson's annotated wreck chart show the location of Lammermoor as approximately one-half mile southeast of Bodega Head.