an area in the Philippine Sea east of the Batan Islands and northeast of Luzon in the Philippine Islands, where she arrived on 29 October 1944. She spotted a small ship on 30 October, but had no other contacts. On 1 November 1944, she again changed her patrol area, to an area in the South China Sea west of Cape Bojeador, the northwestern tip of Luzon. She sighted Cape Bojeador Lighthouse on 2 November and moved to the east, scouring the coast, but located nothing of interest. On 3 November, the sea was flat and calm and there was a cloudless sky, but still Blackfish sighted no ships. Desperate not to "go home empty handed, Sellars requested a five-day extension to the patrol. Blackfish passed between Calayan Island and Dalupiri Island in the Babuyan Islands on 6 November 1944, and while she sighted no ships, she did spot some "campfires and lights in the island hills." She patrolled without further developments for several more days and a typhoon ravaged the area on 10 November, effectively ended the crew’s hopes of making any attacks before the end of the patrol. With the seas calming on 11 November, Blackfish departed her patrol area. She arrived at Saipan on 17 November, took on fuel and supplies there, and then headed for Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where she arrived on 24 November 1944 after suffering from flooding en route. Upon Blackfish′s arrival at Midway Atoll, two empty cans of carbon tetrachloride with loose lids were found on board, which indicated that the sickness that afflicted her crew during her patrol likely resulted from lead poisoning caused by exposure to carbon tetrachloride fumes. Sellars noted in his final report on the patrol that "this again emphasizes the fact that carbon-tetrachloride should not be carried on board submarines." As a whole, Blackfish′s ninth war patrol was judged ineligible for the award of the Submarine Combat Patrol Insignia. Due to the flooding which occurred during her return from patrol, she required a refit at Midway Atoll. After it was completed on 23 December 1944, she conducted training until 29 December 1944. Tenth war patrol Blackfish departed Midway Atoll on 1 January 1945 to begin her tenth war patrol, bound for a patrol area in the Luzon-Formosa area in the South China Sea. She undertook the patrol as a unit of Task Group 17.16, a