The motorboat returned immediately to the wreck. During the next couple of hours she was to go alongside several times and to succeed in getting off every one of the 33 men who were still aboard. True to tradition, the captain was the last to leave his ship. The launch made its final trip about eleven o'clock in the morning. The tug, the Sir Charles Elliott, had turned up half-an-hour previously. She had at once closed the wreck, to see whether she could assist in the rescue operations that were going on. She dropped anchor some distance seaward of the wreck, then, skilfully handled by Captain Brewin, she paid out chain and dropped down, head to seaward all the time, towards the liner. In this way she was able to bring her stem within five or six feet of the liner's starboard side. The after deck of the wrecked ship was by this time awash, No.5 hold having flooded. One moment those on the stern of the tug were looking down on the liner's deck as they topped a swell. The next moment they were staring up from the trough at the sides of the vessel towering above them. They shouted to the few men still on the wreck to ask whether they could help, but before anything could be done the tug's anchor began to drag and she had hastily to get out of her perilous position and pull away into more open water.
The Temeraire's motorboat, which had been standing by, then went in again to take the last of the marooned men off the wreck. Before leaving his ship the master ordered the radio operators to send out a last urgent request for aircraft to bring food and water for his passengers and crew on the beach. At 10.55 a.m. the stricken liner's radio broadcast its final message. The message ended with the laconic announcement: "Signing Off".
The motorboat put the rescued men on board the tug, which with difficulty managed to get alongside the Manchester Division and transfer them. The captain, the chief engineer, and the senior second engineer remained on board the tug, to discuss with the tugmaster the possibilities of salvage and of rescuing the beach party. The motorboat returned to the Temeraire, having completed its dangerous mission successfully, at great risk to its crew.
The position of the beach party was now causing great anxiety aboard the rescue ships. It was obvious that it would be suicide to attempt to take them off by lifeboat while the surf continued to run so high. The captain of the Manchester Division decided, in case the wrecked liner's last messages for aid from the air had gone astray, to send out an urgent appeal, asking for water and provisions for the people on the shore. The message went out early in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, those on the tug were wondering what had happened to the Nerine, the minesweeper that had left Walvis Bay nearly six hours ahead of them and which was scheduled to reach the wreck at daybreak that day, well ahead of the tug. But there was no sign of her.

The experience of the Nerine well illustrates the difficulties with which navigators have to contend along that coast.
Taking no chances, her commanding officer, Van Rensburg, kept well out from the coast all the way north. The ship made fairly good time. Dawn on the third day, when she should have reached the wreck, found her out of sight of land, with an overcast sky which prevented her navigator checking his position. The direction finder with which the minesweeper was equipped was brought into action, and about nine o'clock the wrecked liner's radio was heard advising Walvis Bay that the ship was to be abandoned. The direction finder indicated that the Nerine was abeam of the wreck. Course was at once altered towards land.
After two hours land was sighted ahead. There was no sign of the wreck. Unknown to those on board her, the strong current had been carrying the Nerine northwards all the time, so that she made her landfall some distance beyond the wreck. Thinking she was still south of it, her commanding officer turned again and resumed a northerly course, keeping the coast well in sight. After a further hour he realised that he must have overshot the wreck, and turned back on his course. Two hours later the navigator was able to get a sight which showed that the minesweeper was 19 miles north of the position.given by the liner.
Pressing on all speed, the Nerine sighted three ships shortly after 3 p.m. An hour and three-quarters later she was abeam of the wreck, two miles to seaward of it. She found the Manchester Division and the Temeraire at anchor, and the Sir Charles Elliott under way about half-a-mile from the wreck.
Closing the tug, the minesweeper transferred Lieutenant F. J. Driver to her and asked her to put him aboard the Manchester Division for a conference with the latter's master to decide what further action should be taken. The captain and the two engineers were still aboard the tug.
When the tug tried to come alongside the Manchester Division the freighter was found to be rolling so heavily in the swell that it was impossible for the tug to get near without risking serious damage to herself as well as the big ship. The attempt was therefore abandoned. Instead, through megaphones, the masters exchanged messages. The captain of the Manchester Division said that he was unable to render further assistance but would stand by as long as possible if he was needed. The Nerine had reported that she had only sufficient fresh water for a limited stay, and the master of the British ship offered to attempt to pass water to her through a pipeline if the swell moderated sufficiently. Unfortunately there was no hope of finding shelter from the rollers that swept unhindered, in never-ending succession, out of the broad South Atlantic onto this unprotected coast.