questioned the 12 survivors from the crew of 33, and gave them bread and cigarettes. At 15:25 on 24 January, about southeast of Cape Race, U-333 attacked the 4,765 GRT Norwegian merchant ship Ringstad, which had lost contact with Convoy ON 55 after several days of storms. The ship was hit on the starboard side by a single torpedo, and the crew of 43 abandoned ship in three lifeboats. After 20 minutes the ship sank, the U-boat surfaced to question the crew, offered water and food, and gave them a heading to the nearest land before wishing them good luck and leaving. However, in heavy weather two lifeboats containing 30 men were lost, while the third lifeboat was eventually spotted, covered in ice, five days later by an aircraft that brought to their rescue. The sinking of Spreewald At 16:50 hours on 31 January 1942, north of the Azores U-333 attacked an unescorted and zigzagging 5,083 GRT merchant ship with a single torpedo, which promptly sent out a distress signal en clair under the name . Cremer examined the ship from a distance of before U-333 torpedoed the ship again at 18:33, and sank her. Unfortunately, she was in fact the German blockade runner Spreewald, en route from Dairen in Manchuria to Bordeaux with a cargo of 3,365 tons of rubber, 230 tons of tin, 20 tons of tungsten, and quinine, as well as 86 prisoners from ships that had been sunk by the auxiliary cruiser . Cremer failed to identify her, as she was camouflaged as the Norwegian ship Elg and was ahead of schedule. A search for survivors was promptly launched. U-333 and , which was waiting to escort the ship into port and , which was waiting to transfer an injured crewman to the ship, were soon joined by and , which were returning from their patrols, and and , which had just begun theirs. Five Fw 200 Condor long-range patrol aircraft from France also searched the area, but most of the U-boats were low on fuel and soon had to abort their search. Late on 2 February, U-105 picked up 25 crewmen and 55 prisoners in three lifeboats and three rafts. Another lifeboat, containing 11 crewmen and 13 prisoners was missing and U-105 searched for a further three days before giving up and setting a course to Lorient. To compound the disaster, when a Dornier Do