At the height of the war, the only alternative of escape was by sea. About ten thousand Germans thronged the ship and it left Danzig Bay with two torpedo boats as escorts, However, one of the boats was forced to return to base when water began leaking in. When the first of three torpedoes was launched, the ship and her passengers had little hope of escape. Although the people rushed to the upper decks to gain access to the lifeboats, they realized that the cables to lower most of the lifeboats were frozen. This made it difficult to launch them. Many jumped overboard but in the freezing cold, they became even more vulnerable,