take their chances on their own, rather than risk such a slow crossing with a weak escort. They were often uncooperative; at one point early in the voyage Scarboroughs captain was shocked to find a Greek merchant ship in the convoy travelling at night with her lights on. Battle 5–18 October The convoy sailed on Saturday 5 October 1940. On the first day, one ship, dropped out with mechanical trouble, and had to return to port. The convoy "ran into a gale" on 8 October and then were engaged by U-boats. As bad weather set in on 11 October, several ships became separated and were forced to sail independently. One of these, , was a small Canadian Laker of 1,813 tons, with a cargo of lumber destined for Scotland. She was sighted by on 16 October and sunk. The Greek freighter was seen by and sunk on the 17 October but , another Laker, avoided this fate and was able to rescue survivors from Aenos, before arriving safely at Rothesay on 19 October. A fourth straggler regained the convoy on 15 October. On 17 October, as the convoy entered the Western Approaches, Scarborough was joined by the sloop and the new corvette . Later that day they were sighted by , which attacked, sinking two ships including the tanker Languedoc. Scarborough counter-attacked, driving U-48 deep so she was unable to shadow or report but the attack was prolonged unwisely and the convoy moved so far ahead that Scarborough was unable to rejoin. On 18 October SC 7 was joined by the sloop and the corvette , with Leith assuming command. Later that day, U-38 sighted the convoy and attacked, damaging . Leith and Heartsease attacked without success, though U-38 was driven off and Heartsease was detailed to escort Carsbreck home, weakening the escort further. 18/19 October On the night of 18/19 October, , , , and made a concerted attack. U-99 and U-100 were captained by two famous aces, Korvettenkapitäns Otto Kretschmer and Joachim Schepke. The attack was coordinated from Lorient by Admiral Karl Dönitz and his staff. An early casualty was the iron ore ship, , bound for Cardiff, Wales. With her heavy cargo, she sank quickly, taking all 36 crew members with her. Later that night, SC 7 lost many of its members, including Empire Brigade with her cargo of trucks and six of her crew and with