The following day, 26 April, he spotted two ships that had run aground. He waited for darkness so that he could escape under cover, and closed on the merchant and its destroyer escort, hoping to torpedo both. As he closed to eliminate the destroyer first he ran aground in 29 feet of water. Unable to risk torpedoes in such shallow water, he moved alongside the transport, which had been heavily damaged in an attack and appeared to be deserted, with no live personnel on board. The deck was covered in motorcycles, cars and trucks earmarked for the "Afrika Korps". Wanklyn ordered a boarding party to loot whatever they could and lay scuttling charges, which blew up the ship. He elected to leave the destroyer, which lay in much shallower water, until the following day. Wanklyn ran aground again and was forced to abandon the attack, returning to base with "Arta" as his solitary kill.