At 15.12 hours on 11 Dec, 1940, the Rotorua (Master Edgar Reginald Harrison Kemp) in convoy HX-92 was hit by one G7e torpedo from U-96 and sank by the stern after 20 minutes about 100 miles west of St. Kilda. She was the ship of the convoy commodore (Rear-Admiral J.U.P. Fitzgerald, CB, RN) and had 27 service personnel on board as passengers. Two crew members were taken prisoner by the U-boat and landed at Lorient on 29 December. The master, the commodore, 15 crew members, two gunners and three passengers were lost. 25 survivors were picked up by HMS Varanga (FY 1625) (T/Lt G.C. Crowley, RNVR), 34 survivors by the British minelayer HMS Alsey (M 51) (Lt H.A. Inglis, RNR) and 49 survivors by HMS Ebor Wyke (FY 1601) (T/A/Skipper T.E. Olgeirsson, RNR) and landed at Stornoway.