At 07.00 hours on 2 October 1942, lookouts on the unescorted Alcoa Transport (Master Clement Hunter) observed a flashing red light, so the ship changed course about 100 miles southeast of Trinidad. At 08.33 hours a torpedo from U-201 struck the starboard side at the after end of the engine room, demolished the engine, broke steam lines and blew off the #3 hatch covers. The ice machine was wrecked, releasing heavy ammonia fumes. Concrete blocks used for ballast shot through the port side and hastened the sinking. The survivors among the eight officers, 23 men and five armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) abandoned ship in one lifeboat. No rafts could be released because the nips on the pelican hooks proved to be too tight. The vessel sank in four minutes, but 100 feet of her bow remained out of the water for several hours at an angle of 60°. USS PC-490 picked up the master, five officers, 19 men and five armed guards about 13 hours later and landed them at Port of Spain. The chief engineer died of burns in a Army hospital at Trinidad.