At 15.38 hours on 28 June 1942 the unescorted Sam Houston (Master Roland Perry), on her maiden voyage, was hit by one torpedo from U-203 about 160 miles northeast of the Virgin Islands. The torpedo struck the bulkhead between the engine room and the #4 deep tank, killed one officer and two men on watch below and caused fires in the cargo. As the #4 hold and the engine room flooded the ship first developed a slight list but the ship righted herself and remained on even keel with the deck only two feet above water. The survivors among the eight officers, 29 crewmen and nine armed guards (the ship was armed with one 4in and four 20mm guns) aboard abandoned ship after 15 minutes in three lifeboats. At 16.00 hours, the U-boat surfaced and sank the ship with 43 rounds from the deck gun. The Germans took the master on board for questioning and put him later back into a boat. Four crewmen died from burns in the lifeboats before the survivors were picked up after two days by USS Courier (AMc 72) and landed at St. Thomas, where another crewman died of burns in a hospital.