At 03.32 hours on 12 Sep, 1942, the Trevilley (Master Richard Harvey), dispersed from convoy OS-38, was hit amidships by one torpedo from U-68 east-northeast of Ascension Island. The master, 42 crew members, eight gunners and two passengers abandoned ship in lifeboats after the ship stopped. One crew member and one passenger were lost. The Germans questioned the survivors and took the master and the chief officer Smiddley as prisoners. The U-boat then fired seven shots from the 37mm AA gun into the superstructure because lifeboats approached the ship again and then opened fire with the deck gun, firing 50 high explosive and 36 incendiary rounds until the ship sank at 08.21 hours. Afterwards, the U-boat fished out 66 tubes for aircraft tires from the debris floating around at the sinking position. On 22 September, the prisoners were transferred to U-459 (von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf), landed at St. Nazaire on 4 November and taken to the POW camp Milag Nord.

Twelve survivors in a lifeboat were picked up by Dumont d´Urville (Madelin), which was searching for survivors from Laconia, landed in Dakar on 21 September and interned by the Vichy French authorities. On 25 September, twelve other survivors made landfall near Half Assini, Gold Coast. The remaining 23 survivors were picked up by the Portuguese steam merchant Cubango.