At 02.32 hours on 26 Sep, 1941, the Cortes (Master Donald Ray McRae) in station #12 of convoy HG-73 was hit aft by one torpedo from U-124 and sank immediately by the stern north-northeast of the Azores.

After both ships ahead of her were torpedoed, the Lapwing in station #13 stopped and launched a lifeboat for rescue work. Among the survivors picked up were three men from Cortes, but they had to abandon ship again when she was sunk by U-203 (Mützelburg) at 06.34 hours. The lifeboat of Lapwing made landfall in Ireland two weeks later, but two Arab firemen from Cortes had died of exhaustion in the boat and the last survivor, bosun Alfonso Pimentil, died later in a hospital in Clifden. The master, 30 crew members, six gunners and six passengers were lost.