Captain Sapworth gave the order to abandon ship. The fire was concentrated in the midsection, causing passengers to head for the bow and stern, and hampering launching of the lifeboats. Most of the 416 crew, 2 gunners, and 205 passengers were picked up by the destroyers and , and the anti-submarine trawler . A skeleton crew remained aboard. The fire left the ship unable to move under her own power, but she was not sinking and the hull appeared intact despite a slight list. At 9:30am on 27 October, a party from went on board and attached tow ropes. The oceangoing tugs and had arrived and took the hulk under tow. Escorted by Broke and , and with cover from Short Sunderland flying boats during daylight, the salvage convoy made for land at . The , commanded by Hans Jenisch, had been told and headed in that direction. He had to dive due to the flying boats, but that night, using hydrophones (passive sonar), located the ships and closed in on them. The destroyers were zigzagging in escort; U-32 placed herself between them and Empress of Britain, from where she fired two torpedoes. The first detonated prematurely; the second, however, hit, causing a massive explosion. Crews of the destroyers speculated this was caused by the fires aboard the liner reaching her fuel tanks. Jenisch manoeuvred U-32 and fired a third torpedo, which hit the ship just aft of the earlier one. The ship began to fill with water and list heavily. The tugs slipped the tow lines and at 2:05am on 28 October, Empress of Britain sank northwest of Bloody Foreland, County Donegal, Ireland at . Gold and salvage It was suspected that she had been carrying gold. The British Empire was shipping gold to North America to improve its credit and pay its debt (bills for supplies). South Africa was a gold producer, and Empress of Britain had recently berthed in Cape Town. Most of the consignments of gold were transported from Cape Town to Sydney, Australia, and from there to America; there were not enough suitable ships and the gold was frequently held up in Sydney. It is possible that, as a result of this delay, Empress of Britain was taking gold from Cape Town to England, from where it could be moved across the Atlantic. On 8 January 1949, the Daily Mail reported that a salvage attempt