 The American destroyers arrived on the scene at about 17 : 00 when the U @-@ boat , U @-@ 53 under the command of <unk> Hans Rose , was in the process of stopping the Holland @-@ America Line cargo ship <unk> . Shortly after , U @-@ 53 stopped the British passenger ship <unk> . As Rose had done with three other ships U @-@ 53 had sunk earlier in the day , he gave passengers and crew aboard <unk> and <unk> adequate time to abandon the ships before sinking the pair . In total , 226 survivors from U @-@ 53 's five victims were rescued by the destroyer flotilla . 
