At 00.36 hours on 6 July 1942 the unescorted Avila Star (Master John Fisher) was hit on the starboard side by two G7e torpedoes from U-201 90 miles east of San Miguel, Azores. The ship had been chased since 5 hours and only sank capsizing to starboard one hour after being hit amidships by a coup de grâce at 00.58 hours. A first coup de grâce fired at 00.54 hours had been a dud. The master, nine crew members, one gunner and eleven passengers were lost, most of them died when the third torpedo detonated beneath a lifeboat that was being lowered. 20 crew members and three passengers went missing in a lifeboat that was never found. 96 crew members, five gunners and eleven passengers were picked up from three lifeboats on 7/8 July by the Portuguese destroyer Lima (D 333) (Rodriguez) and taken to Ponta Delgada, Azores where one crew member died in a hospital. Another lifeboat with 34 crew members and five passengers was not located until 25 July, after eight crew members and two passengers died of wounds or exposure. The 29 survivors were picked up by the Portuguese sloop Pedro Nunes (A 528) which was searching for the boat since it had been spotted by Portuguese aircraft two days earlier and landed them at Lisbon the next day, but one crew member died aboard shortly after being rescued and two others after reaching a hospital in Lisbon.