"Matagorda" interrupted this duty on 24 July 1944 and 25 July 1944, when she searched for and rescued the entire crew of 67 men from the American merchant ship SS "William Gaston", torpedoed by a German submarine late on 23 July 1944 off the Brazilian coast.Again, while operating out of Fortaleza, she rescued five survivors of a downed Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boat plus the crew from an assisting Martin PBM Mariner flying boat on 29 August 1944.