At 12.27 hours on 7 March 1943 the unescorted Jamaica (Master Arnfinn Bergan, lost) was torpedoed by U-221, broke in two and sank within two minutes. The survivors launched four lifeboats, but two had been damaged and could not be used. The motor lifeboat was sucked down as the ship sank and came up capsized. This boat was straightened, bailed and later held 13 survivors, while four other survivors were in a gig. The U-boat questioned the survivors and accidentally rammed a lifeboat, throwing the occupants into the sea. The third engineer was picked up by the U-boat and was allowed to swim to the other boat, which picked up the remaining occupants swimming in the sea. Another crew member was taken prisoner by the Germans, but on 21 March he jumped overboard during a exercise alarm and drowned.

On 9 March, the survivors in the lifeboat were spotted by a Fortress aircraft, which dropped first aid articles for them, but they were not rescued until 18 March, when they were picked up by HMS Borage (K 120) (T/LtCdr A. Harrison, RNR). The vessel altered course to meet another corvette which had a doctor on board and three of the survivors who were severely injured were transferred to her, to be taken to Gibraltar as quickly as possible. The corvette first escorted a convoy to England and then landed the remaining survivors at Plymouth on 26 March. The four men in the gig made landfall on the Isle of Barra on 29 March.