The reef was originally called Sailor’s reef, as a sailor discovered 
it. While sitting on a log, he picked up a piece of quartz that showed 
gold. The reef was first pegged out in 1856, and worked downward 
from the outcrop. The outcrop of auriferous quartz, from 2 to 5 feet 
thick, showed for a length of 60 feet,, and the quartz was very rich in 
gold. The strike of the reef is S. 20 deg. E., and the dip 20 deg. east. 
The northern end of the reef was cut off by a fault, in which was a vein 
of quartz known as the Black reef, 8 inchesi thick; it was ferruginous in 
character. The strike of the Black reef is N.E., and it was nearly 
vertical. Northward, beyond the Black reef, Sailor’s reef was not traced. 
The southern, like the northern, termination of Sailor’s reef is marked 
by a fault, which strikes E. 40 deg. N., and dips 50 deg. in a north¬ 
easterly direction. 
At the surface the country-rocks: consist of nearly white sandstones and 
some slaty beds that resemble the Mount Egerton beds. The strike of 
the country-irocks at the outcrop of the reef is E. 40 deg. N., and the dip 80 
deg. N.W. The country has an abnormal strike, but at a short distance 
the strike, a little W. of N., is normal. 
The whole of the country where the reef cropped out is shattered and 
faulted, and along these lines of fracture quartz veins have formed. 
From the surface the reef was worked to a depth of about 300 feet, and 
good returns were obtained by the original owners. Later on a new com¬ 
pany was formed, and the ground was worked under the present name of 
the New Mariner Company. The shaft was sunk to its present depth 
of 606 feet, and a great deal of prospecting work was done in the western 
country, but not a single cross-cut was driven to the east or in the direction 
of the anticline. As regards the existence of saddle-reefs in this mine, 
everything has yet to be tested. The country-rock appears to be the top 
portion of the Castlemaine zone, and the structure of the beds is similar 
to that of Bendigo, and there is no valid reason why auriferous saddle- 
reefs should not exist, but the work of searching- for them has still to be 
undertaken. The main shaft at the New Mariner appears to be in fair 
order, and should the company re-organize, as it no doubt will, then the 
work of cross-cutting to the east should be undertaken, gnd centre-country 
should be sunk on, so as to test it for saddle-reefs. 
Just now a little shallow work is being done a short distance S.W. 
from the main shaft. The country-rock here is light grey sandstone, 
resembling the Mount Egerton beds. A reef, 3 inches thick at the sur¬ 
face, but expanding to 2 feet lower down, cuts through these beds. Its 
strike is N. 40 deg. E., and its dip 55 deg. N.W. The quartz thickens 
and thins out along its course, and the shoot of gold pitches at an angle 
of 20 deg. to the N.E. The shaft is 23 feet deep, and the bottom of 
the shoot of gold cuts the shaft at 19 feet from the surface. The shoot 
has been worked northward for some little distance, and it appears to con¬ 
tinue downwards, pitching -north-eastward. The breadth of the shoot of 
gold measuring from the bottom to the top at right angles to the pitch 
is 15 feet. 
About 40 feet to the north-west is another shaft, 80 feet deep, known 
as Brown’s shaft. At 40 feet down is a sollar, and 9 feet to the east, 
in a cross-cut, the reef shows ; but this is under the shoot of gold which 
is further to the north and deeper down, if it continues in the same course 
as it follows from the surface. It would be necessary to drive about 30 
feet north-easterly to reach the spot where the shoot would be if it 
continues. 
In the bottom of this shaft it is stated that there is a reef 2 feet thick, 
but the quartz is very white and barren-looking. 
