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WED 8 OCT 1942
Pacific
Japanese guardboat Toyohama Maru is wrecked (cause unspecified), Wotje Atoll.

Submarine Drum (SS-228) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Hague Maru, 34°06'N, 136°22'E.

Indian Ocean
U.S. tanker Swiftsure is torpedoed by German submarine U-68 approximately 25 miles southeast of the Cape of Good Hope, 34°40'S, 18°25'E, and after firefighting efforts prove futile, is abandoned. There are no casualties among the 31-man crew, and all hands are rescued by a British minesweeper that comes out from Cape Town, South Africa (see 2 November 1942).

Atlantic
U.S. freighter John Carter Rose is torpedoed by German submarine U-202 at 10°27'N, 45°37'W; fires triggered by the explosions make abandoning ship difficult. Five of the 45-man crew perish, as do 3 of the 20-man Armed Guard. U-201 returns, but a second dud torpedo fails to damage the merchantman. The U-boat then shells John Carter Rose, after which time the Germans provide the survivors with cigarettes, medical supplies and food (see 13 October 1942).

British corvette HMS Rockrose picks up 42 survivors (32 merchant seamen and 10 Armed Guard sailors) of U.S. freighter Chickasaw City, sunk the previous day by German submarine U-172 (see 2 November 1942).