During the attack that continued through the night, the "Ohio"'s steering gear was damaged. Hill moved the "Ledbury" alongside the stricken tanker, and then led the "Ohio" back into the convoy. As the convoy approached Malta, the ships came under assault by Ju 88s, in an action which Hill himself described to be as "a mother and father of an attack". The freighter SS "Waimarama", which was transporting fuel in drums on her upper deck, suffered a direct hit by a stick of bombs, blowing up in an inferno which engulfed surrounding ships and survivors alike. The flames blazed hundreds of feet in the air, and the Mediterranean was aflame "as far as the eye could see". As Italian aircraft dropped circling torpedoes into the water, Hill led the "Ledbury" into the surrounding inferno, where the destroyer's complement went over the ship's side with ropes to pick up survivors from the explosion. The intensity of the heat, and the amount of flames around the destroyer was so immense that as Hill leant over the side of his ship, he held on to his beard "to prevent it catching fire".