At 11.13 hours on 27 September 1940 the unescorted Vestvard (Master O.N. Bråstad), dispersed the day before from convoy OB-218, was hit on the port side near #3 hatch by one G7e torpedo from U-31 about 170 miles southwest of Rockall and sank within 30 seconds after being struck on port side at #4 hatch by a G7a torpedo fired as coup de grâce at 11.23 hours. A first torpedo fired at 11.04 hours had passed underneath the ship. Between the two hits the crew had abandoned ship in two lifeboats, but one of them was hit and destroyed by debris from the second explosion. The seven occupants were later picked up by the other boat along with other men that were forced to jump overboard from the heavily listing ship but one crew member drowned in the suction of the sinking ship. On 1 October, the survivors made landfall near Slane Head Light, from where four men were admitted to a hospital in Galway.