At 09.25 hours on 25 Jan 1942 the unescorted Mount Kitheron (Master Anastasios L. Charvalias), a straggler from station #13 in convoy ON-55 due to rudder trouble since 11 January, was hit on the port side in the forepeak by one of two torpedoes from U-754 while steaming on a non-evasive course at 2 knots with dimmed navigational lights set about 8 miles east-southeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The ship was armed with four machine guns and carried a crew of 32 men and four passengers, most of them began to abandon ship in the lifeboats in a moderate swell after distress signals were sent without receiving a reply. The master and eleven crew members were still aboard when the U-boat fired a coup de grâce from the stern torpedo tube at 09.38 hours. The torpedo struck in the #2 hold and caused the ship to sink within two minutes after breaking in two. The Germans left the area without questioning the survivors as they already identified the ship by her distress signals and due to the proximity of the coast. The lifeboats searched the area in vain for the missing men and then reached the nearby harbor on their own.