At 01.31 hours on 17 Oct 1941, U-558 fired one torpedo at W.C. Teagle in station #103 of convoy SC-48 and sank her about 600 miles west of Rockall. Erviken in station #104 and Rym in station #85 both slowed down to pick up survivors, the latter actually had to alter course to avoid a collision. At 01.49 hours, the U-boat sank the stopped Erviken with a stern torpedo. Seeing this the Rym immediately tried to reach convoy again at full speed but was chased not only by U-558 but also by U-432 (Schultze), which observed how Krech torpedoed and sank her at 02.14 hours.

The W.C. Teagle (Master Harold Redvers Barlow) was hit on the starboard side aft, caught fire and sank suddenly by the stern after 5 minutes before most of the crew were able to abandon ship. Nine survivors were picked up by HMS Broadwater (H 81) (Cdr W.M.L. Astwood, RN (rtd)), but were lost when the destroyer was sunk the next night. Eventually the only survivor was radio operator Norman D. Houston, who rescued himself on a raft, observed Erviken being torpedoed nearby and was picked up by HMS Veronica (K 37) (LtCdr D.F. White, RNR (rtd)) after about 4 hours and landed at Londonderry. The master, 31 crew members and three gunners (the ship was armed with one 4in and six machine guns) were lost.