a rainstorm in the dark on 10 July. The impact injured three of the carrier's crew, one of whom subsequently died of his injuries, but no one from Corfus crew was injured. The two ships were locked together so that Corfus crew could walk from one to the other when Captain Onslow ordered most of her crew to be evacuated onto Hermes. They were pulled apart by a combination of the carrier's turbines at full speed astern and blowing of ballast tanks on board Corfu to lighten that ship forward. Hermes had crumpled the forward of her bow, mostly above water, and was able to proceed to Freetown at , but Corfu had to be towed stern first to Freetown where she arrived three days later. The carrier joined a convoy to South Africa on 5 August and began repairs at Simonstown 12 days later. The repairs were completed on 2 November and the ship arrived back at Freetown on 29 November after working up. The ship was joined by the light cruiser on 2 December to search for German commerce raiders in the South Atlantic. They mostly operated from Saint Helena during the month and were later joined by the armed merchant cruiser to search for the pocket battleship , without success. The force sailed for Simonstown on 31 December and Hermes was dispatched to search off the South African coast for Vichy French blockade runners. One such ship was spotted on 26 January, but she returned to Madagascar. On 4 February, the ship headed north to rendezvous with the heavy cruisers and to blockade the Somali port of Kismayo which was under siege by Commonwealth forces. Hawkins captured three Italian merchantmen and Hermes captured one on 12 February. On 22 February, the carrier was one of the ships tasked to search for Admiral Scheer after she was spotted by an aircraft from the light cruiser , but the pocket battleship successfully broke contact. Hermes arrived in Colombo, Ceylon, on 4 March and continued to search for Axis shipping. She was sent to the Persian Gulf in April to support British operations in Basra, Iraq, and remained there until mid-June when she returned to patrolling the Indian Ocean between Ceylon and the Seychelles Islands. The ship continued to patrol until 19 November when she arrived in Simonstown for a refit that was not completed until 31 January 1942. Hermes