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.