Germein made his way to Donald Black's nearby farm, where he borrowed a horse and set off to ride the 16 km to Mount Gambier to summon assistance.

He was, however, thrown from the horse and young Mr. Black completed the journey, and by 3.15pm had telegraphed the news to Adelaide and Portland, Victoria, and returned the same evening with a trooper.

[6] The brig John Ormerod left Adelaide with a cargo of flour for Sydney on 21 October 1861 and was hit by a squall 20 miles south of Cape Northumberland and capsized in heavy seas.

Ben Germein observed the stricken vessel and intercepted her in the lighthouse's new five-oared lifeboat (which had been delivered the previous day), and with Dagwell and crew rescued the three men.

[11] It would appear his love of variety had induced him to rejoin the pilot service, of which he was one of the smartest members in days of old, when the principal duties were to boxhaul sailing vessels about.

He felt that "any dredge master or hopper skipper could navigate the river in a steamer, when it wanted a smart fellow to work up a big sailing craft"[12] In later years he joined the harbor pilot service, but wanderlust would take hold of him and he would disappear for days or weeks at a time.

After a number of search parties failed to find any trace, the water police found his badly decomposed body washed up among the mangroves near Bog Creek in a condition that indicated suicide.

Among their children was a son, also named Benjamin Germein (c. 1860 – 31 May 1932), a customs officer, who married (1) Eliza Amy Boys (c. 1861 – 13 August 1904) on 14 March 1889, (2) Margaret Blyth (c. 1862 – 10 January 1913).