Early in the morning of Wednesday, March 11, 1942, the Caribsea was steaming up the North Carolina coast on her way to Norfolk, VA, from Santiago, Cuba, with a full cargo of highly combustible manganese ore in her cargo holds. At the Navy’s request, Master Nicholas Manolis had reduced the ship’s speed to four knots so that the freighter would approach Cape Hatteras, where U-boats were known to be active, after daylight.

Suddenly, about 11 miles east of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, the ship was struck on the starboard side at #2 hold by a torpedo fired from U-158, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Erwin Rostin. Weighted by her heavy cargo, the Caribsea rapidly settled by her head and then was shaken by a boiler explosion.

Three minutes later, only the masts were still visible. The 28 men on board had no time to send distress signals or launch lifeboats, and only the seven men on deck or in the wheelhouse managed to climb onto two rafts that had floated free. Later, they watched the U-boat that had sunk their ship passing within 100 yards.

After ten hours in the water, the survivors managed to attract the attention of a passing freighter, the Norlindo, which picked up the two officers and five crewmen and took them to safety at Cape Henry.