Aeronautica aircraft attacked the convoy but were repulsed by naval escorts and air cover. That evening an Italian torpedo bomber hit Imperial Star. No crew were killed and the ship did not sink but was disabled so it was scuttled and abandoned. The remainder of the convoy safely reached the Grand Harbour at Valletta the next day. Dunedin Star stayed in Malta for four weeks, leaving unescorted on 22 October and calling at Gibraltar three days later. Dunedin Stars movements for the next five months are not recorded. Then on 22 March 1942, it left the Clyde with Convoy WS 17 to Freetown. It continued via Cape Town to the Indian Ocean, reaching Bombay on 16 May and leaving Colombo on 13 July for Fremantle. There it joined Convoy ZK 12, which left on 27 July for Sydney. Dunedin Star detached en route and reached Melbourne on 3 August. Again, it returned from Australia to Britain via Panama, where it called on 17 September before crossing the North Atlantic and reaching Liverpool on 1 November. Loss On 9 November 1942, Dunedin Star left Liverpool for Egypt via Saldanha Bay, Cape Town and Aden. Its cargo was munitions and supplies for the British Eighth Army in the Middle East, and it was carrying 85 crew and 21 fare-paying passengers. Dunedin Star left Liverpool with Convoy ON 145, which convoy was bound for New York. In the North Atlantic Dunedin Star detached and headed for South Africa. However, at 2230 hrs on 29 November off the Skeleton Coast of South West Africa it struck an underwater obstacle, presumed by the subsequent South African Court of Inquiry to be the poorly charted Clan Alpine Shoal. Its wireless operator sent a distress signal, which was received ashore at Walvis Bay. Dunedin Star began rapidly taking on water and its pumps were unable to cope. Its master, Captain RB Lee, chose to beach the ship for the safety of its passengers, crew, and valuable cargo. In a heavy sea it grounded offshore, about south of the Cunene River mouth on the border with Portuguese Angola. Captain Lee feared the heavy sea could break up the ship. Therefore, he had the crew lower its motor boat and start putting people ashore. The boat completed two trips, putting ashore a total of 63 people including eight women, three babies and a number of elderly men. Then the