	At 04:44 on 14 October 1942, in very bad weather, "Irish Oak" received a distress call from British ship "Stornest", a straggler from convoy ONS 136, torpedoed by . "Irish Oak" answered the call and altered course. Six minutes later "Stornest" radioed "Irish Oak" that they were abandoning ship in life-rafts, having lost their lifeboats in the heavy seas. "Irish Oak" continued to relay "Stormest"s SOS and spent ten hours searching for survivors in a westerly gale. The rescue tug "Adherent", the anti-submarine trawler "Drangey" and two corvettes from convoy ONS 137 joined the search, to no avail. "Stornest's" crew of 29 and ten gunners were lost at sea.