After seven weeks of sailing from Wellington, New Zealand to London the Rotorua docked at Plymouth where all the mail and passengers landed at 6pm on March 21st. The next day the master met with the pilot, Mr. Bussey to discuss the route he would take up the Channel to London. The Pilot pointed out to the master all the danger spots on the chart and also remarked  that he should have written instruction of how to navigate the channel and which headland to hug to to cut down on the risk of submarine attack. At noon the Rotorua began her passage up the channel. Around 5:45pm she was speeding along at 13 knots and and, 5 miles off the coast, however she was 28 m miles off the coast and easily visible for German submarines. It wasn't long before she was spotted by U-boat UC - 17 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Ralf Wenninger. A ship the size of the Rotorua presented an easy target and before long there was a torpedo that slammed into the starboard side of the ship just behind the engine room.
The master of the ship was down below at the time of the impact and rushed on deck and it became immediately obvious to him what had happened and he blew his whistle to summon all hands to the life boats stations. The first and third officers were on the bridge at the time and saw nothing of the approaching torpedo or submarine which had fired it.  The master ordered the engines to be stopped and a SOS was sent by wireless. He then threw his ships papers over the side in a weighted bag. The ship was settling down fast at the stern and as soon she came to a standstill the crew abandoned ship in the lifeboats. At this point a steward Mr. Willaims was thrown out of one of the life boats and several attempts to rescue him failed., and he drowned. About 35 minutes later the Rotorua sank.
The ship lies about 30 miles from Lyme bay in 60metres of water to the sea bed and is an extended range dive.

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