At 19.45 hours on 19 Feb 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Pan Massachusetts (Master Robert E. Christy) was hit by two torpedoes from U-128 about 20 miles off Cape Canaveral, while steaming at 13.5 knots in misty and squally weather. The torpedoes struck on the starboard side amidships and ruptured the tanks and deck. The explosions sprayed the cargo over the length of the vessel and ignited it, turning the tanker into a burning inferno but the full tanks prevented the cargo to explode. Some of the nine officers and 29 crewmen on board jumped overboard and swam underneath the flames to open spots and others went forward and escaped into the water by lowering a mooring line over the side because all lifeboats became victims of the flames before they could be launched. Three officers and 17 crewmen were lost.
The British steam tanker Elizabeth Massey immediately put out a lifeboat to pick up the men in the water, but rough seas hampered the effort until the US Coast Guard ship USS Forward (WAGL 160) took the lifeboat in tow and moved with it through the wreckage. Some bodies were recovered and placed on board the US Coast Guard ship, while all survivors were brought to the tanker and taken to Jacksonville, Florida.