The ship, sailing in convoy, was torpedoed and immediately caught fire. Although determined and courageous efforts were made to extinguish the fire, the position became hopeless and after an hour and a half the ship had to be abandoned. The Master, who acted with high courage throughout, made determined efforts to save his ship. With sixteen others he was cut off amidships by the flames and this party made brave efforts to fight the fires. No pumps were available but bucket parties were organised and fire-fighting continued until it was impossible to remain on board. The First Radio Officer showed great courage and when the flames were at their highest he volunteered to go aft and make contact with the engineers, with a view to getting water on deck. With complete disregard of his own safety, he played a leading part in fighting the fires throughout the whole operation. The Third Officer also displayed exceptional bravery and coolness. He went through the flames to collect fire extinguishers from all over the ship and was responsible for getting the fire under control on one side of the boat deck. In addition he entered the blazing gun pit and extinguished a fire there, thus averting the explosion of ammunition.