At 00.06 hours on 7 Oct, 1942, the unescorted John Carter Rose (Master Magnus Leknes) was hit by a dud from U-201 and the U-boat was driven away with four shots from the after 5in gun. The vessel began steaming a zigzagging course at 11 knots to escape.

At 23.58 hours on 7 October, U-202 (Poser) fired one torpedo, which did not explode, followed by two torpedoes at 02.32 hours on 8 October about 850 miles east of Trinidad. The torpedoes struck the vessel aft between the #2 and #3 holds. The explosion blew the hatch covers off and ignited the cargo of gasoline, but did little structural damage. Fire spread from the bridge to the stack and the vessel continued for 20 minutes before the engines could be stopped. The eight officers, 33 crewmen and 20 armed guards (the ship was armed with one 5in, one 3in and four 20mm guns) had difficulty abandoning ship in three lifeboats due to the fire. Three armed guards and five crewmen were lost. At 06.06 hours, U-201 hit the vessel with a coup de grâce and finally sunk her with 51 rounds of gunfire at 11.00 hours.

The men on the U-boat questioned the survivors and handed them cigarettes, first aid supplies and bread and gave them the course to Venezuela. They also picked up one man from the water and placed him a lifeboat. The three boats became separated that night. 18 survivors in one boat were picked up at 18.00 hours on 13 October by the West Humhaw and landed at Freetown. The remaining 35 survivors in the other two boats were picked up by the Argentinean steam tanker Santa Cruz on 13 October and landed at Recife, Brazil on 20 October.