At 03.56 hours on 18 April 1943 the unescorted Corbis (Master Stanley Wilfred Appleton) was hit by two torpedoes from U-180 about 500 miles east-southeast of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. At 04.10 hours, the U-boat fired a coup de grâce at the stopped tanker, which evaded by reversing. A second coup de grâce fired six minutes later hit the foreship, set the ship on fire and caused her to sink in a short time. The Germans observed four lifeboats at the sinking position, but three of them were swamped. The master, 47 crew members and two gunners were lost. Four crew members and six gunners were rescued after drifting 13 days in an open boat by a SAAF crash launch and landed at East London.