Traveling south bound in dense fog, the vessel struck a reef just off Big Sur River. The crew abandoned the ship into lifeboats and were picked up by the fishing vessel Fairfax, who transported them to the steamer Humboldt. The crew was transported back to San Francisco.

Two-thirds of the cargo was salvaged by the vessels Prentice, Peacock, Homer & S.Catania. Over the course of the salvage, the vessel the Panama and the barge S.Catania. were lost .

Impaled on a reef, and little more than a stone's throw from shore, the crew of the San Francisco bound freighter soon realized their vessel had suffered extensive damage. She was taking water in her holds as well as in her main boiler room. Listing toward the sea and buffeted by breakers, the Rhine Maru wasted little time in sending out an urgent SOS! Local Peninsulans who heard the distress message over their home sets as programs were interrupted to allow a clear "right of way" for the SOS signals. Fortunately for the crew of the Rhine Maru, the purse seiner Fairfax of Aberdeen Washington was in the area at the time of the stranding. Unaware of the freighter's plight but caught in the same murky fog, skipper H. Merkovich of the Fairfax had cut his engine to listen for the Point Sur foghorn approximately three miles to the north. Hoping to establish his bearings with the aid of the foghorn, Merkovich instead heard blasts from the Rhine Maru's whistle. Proceeding with extreme caution toward the sounds of the whistle, Merkovich soon came upon the stranded vessel. Reinstedt

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