At 03.23 hours on 10 April 1940 the unescorted Tosca (Master Aksel Meier Lidahl) was hit on the port side near the aft mast by one torpedo from U-37 about 45 miles northwest of the Faroe Islands. At noon on 9 April, the ship had already been northeast of the Faroes but upon hearing of the German invasion of Norway she turned around to reach Kirkwall or another Scottish port. During the night they came across the burning Sveaborg, which had been torpedoed by the same U-boat at 01.36 hours and decided to assist the crew, but was herself torpedoed and sank by the stern within a few minutes. The crew managed to launch the starboard lifeboat safely, but the port boat capsized and spilled the occupants into the water, while others rescued themselves onto a raft. The men in the lifeboat rescued the survivors swimming in the water and located the swamped motorboat, which was bailed and then took the lifeboat in tow towards the Faroe Islands. Later that morning, the survivors from both ships were picked up by the British armed boarding vessel HMS Northern Chief (4.34) (Lt H. Kirkwood, RN) and landed in Kirkwall on 11 April.