Occurring 50 years to the day of the sinking of the Intrinsic, the ship is one of four that have perished with loss of life off the coast of the small town of Kilkee, the others being the Edmond, and the Inishtrahull.

The port side of the ship suffered damage when lying in Dún Laoghaire harbour in 1885 and on its return to Troon in Scotland, began to leak.

According to the wreck report compiled after the disaster the ship was listing considerably on the starboard side due to it having 10 to 12 tons more coal than the port bunker.

[4] During the night of the 30th and the early morning of the 31st, gale force winds of between 9 and 10 were reported along the west coast of Ireland and it is believed that Fulmar foundered in these, not helped by the fact that it was already listing.

[6] What had happened only came to knowledge on 31 January when a quantity of wreckage identified as belonging to the Fulmar was picked up near Kilkee, a town located about 22 km from the entrance to the River Shannon, the ship's intended route.