About 00.50 hours on 14 Oct 1942 the Nikolina Matkovic (Master Marin Kelez) in station #102 of convoy SC-104 was hit on the starboard side aft by one torpedo from U-661, which was herself lost the next day. The ship sank almost immediately after sending a distress signal about 380 miles south-southeast of Cape Farewell. No lifeboats could be launched by the crew of 29 and six British gunners (the ship was armed with one 3in and six machine guns) and the survivors clung to debris or rafts until being picked up by the British rescue ship Gothland (Master James Murray Hadden, OBE). Poor weather conditions with rough seas made boat work impossible, so the rescue ship had to maneuver carefully amongst the survivors and used her boom nets to retrieve them. The master 19 crew members and one gunner were rescued and landed at Gourock on 21 October. The chief engineer, the radio operator, seven other crew members and five gunners were lost.