At 07.16 hours on 9 April 1942 the unescorted and unarmed Esparta (Master Alfred L. Case) was hit by one G7e torpedo from U-123 about 14 miles south of Brunswick, Georgia. The torpedo struck the starboard side at the #4 hatch, blew off the #3 and #4 hatch covers, damaged both sides of the ship and released ammonia gas used in the refrigerating system of the ship. A small fire burned at the point of impact and the fumes forced several men to jump overboard, one of them drowned. The vessel quickly listed 15° to starboard and began to sink rapidly by the stern.
Distress signals were sent and acknowledgments were received. Ten minutes after the hit most of the crew of eleven officers and 29 men abandoned ship in two lifeboats and one raft, the master and radio operator left last by jumping overboard onto the raft. Because the ship sank in shallow water the bow protruded obliquely out of the water until she sank completely two hours later. The survivors were picked up by the American patrol boat USS Tyrer (WIX 339) seven hours later.