11 Dec, 1940
HMT Varanga (T/Lt. G.C. Crowley, RNVR) picks up 25 survivors from the British passenger ship Rotorua that was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-96 about 100 miles west of St. Kilda in position 58º56'N, 11º20'W.

29 Jan, 1944
HMT Varanga picked up Sgt S.C.B.Parker [RAF] from the North Sea. He was one of four crew from a Halifax returning from a bombing run to Berlin. They had baled out and were picked up by three minesweeping trawlers. The other two were HMT Prospect and HMT Property. They were in a group anchored 10 miles off the Wash. These four men were the only ones to survive out of a crew of seven from 431 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force flying out of RAF station Croft.