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In the low visibility of the snow storm the crew mistook the local sheep for polar bears and climbed back aboard the vessel. There they stayed for two or three days whilst the vessel bumped and ground itself into the bottom; the cargo of timber undoubtedly gave the vessel sufficient buoyancy whilst it had structural integrity.
The Ayrshire and her crew were eventually found, after the snowstorm, by a crofter looking for his sheep. The crofter was surprised to see the barques topgallant mast lying on top of cliff face. After reassuring the crew that there were no polar bears in Shetland they scrambled off the vessel via the mast. The rat population of the barque along with fifteen of the sixteen crew members were saved.
By 11 January the materials, rigging, sails and stores had been salved. By the 29 of January the Ayrshire had listed over, her topsides held together by cargo had separated from the bottom. The cargo was salved, taken to Busta, and was ultimately re-shipped in another barque called the Nina.
The sinking of the Ayrshire was not the end of the nightmare for some of the crew, read about the subsequent trial here
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