The Amsterdam left Smith's Bluff (Beaumont, Texas) on April 4, bound for Freetown. 100 miles northwest of Trinidad she was attacked by the German 'U 66'. The tanker was hit by two torpedoes. The first torpedo hit the tanker amidships and the second torpedo hit the engine room. Then the ship sank quickly. The crew was able to launch the two port lifeboats and abandoned ship. A little later it turned out that four people on board were missing from the boat. Later, the stoker H. Fial died of his wounds. There were five casualties. The survivors were picked up by the Yugoslav ship Ivan and brought ashore in Venezuela.

Casualties:
W Noorduyn 3rd engineer
W.M. Kramer oilman
I. Rosenkranc sailor
Marshall pantry boy
H. Fial stoker

At 17.45 hours on 16 April 1942 the unescorted Amsterdam was hit simultaneously by two torpedoes from U-66, the first amidships, the second in the engine room. The most of the crew abandoned the ship in the two starboard lifeboats before the tanker sank 60 miles west of British Grenada. The survivors were picked up by the Yugoslavian steam merchant Ivan (Master F. Ilic) and were landed at Port of Spain, Trinidad less than a day later.

• Haersolte, J.W.J. van (ed) (1947).
  Scheepsrampen in oorlogstijd, nr. 175.
• Uboat.net U 66.