At 04.10 hours on 17 July 1940 the neutral and unescorted O.A. Brodin (Master B.F. Gustafsson) was hit on the port side amidships by one G7e torpedo from U-57 15 miles northwest of Noup Head, Orkneys. The U-boat had missed the ship with a first G7e torpedo five minutes earlier as it was a surface runner. Most of the crew members abandoned ship in one lifeboat while she developed a heavy list, only the first and third officers remained behind to search for three missing crewmen but they also had to leave after five minutes. The ship sank vertically about 45 minutes after the hit and the U-boat was seen to surface and leave the area. The Germans misidentified their victim as Swedish motor merchant Anita from the same shipping company. The lifeboat searched between the drifting deck cargo and wreckage for the missing men and located another lifeboat that floated free, transferring some men into it. Both boats then set sail and were spotted at 13.30 hours by two armed trawlers during minesweeping operations in 59°18N/03°20W. The 21 survivors were picked up within one hour by HMS Sicyon (FY 669) (Skr W. Masson, RNR), which then took one of the empty lifeboats in tow and arrived after five hours in Kirkwall, accompanied by HMS Admiral Sir John Lawford (FY 533) (T/Skr G.W. Smith, RNR) towing the other boat.