should attack and give away the scouting line′s position to the Japanese. Davidson noted that "after reading and re-reading my orders, I decided I had no choice but to let them go by in order not to disclose the position of the scouting line." Blackfish dove and the convoy passed unharmed. In Davidson′s words, the incident was "pretty hard to take, after five patrols without a legitimate target." On 4 November 1943, Blackfish suddenly sighted a large Japanese convoy escorted by several planes. Upon sighting the aircraft, she dove and a depth charge exploded nearby, but she escaped unscathed. On 6 November, she moved to a new patrol line north of Mussau Island in the St Matthias Islands. On 7 November at 11:05, an Imperial Japanese Navy floatplane attacked her and forced her to dive, Blackfish′s log noting that the floatplane apparently was "trying to get in a rain squall to work on us at his leisure." She remained submerged for several hours, over the course of which she heard 14 aircraft bombs and depth charges explode overhead. Davidson later received information that a large Japanese convoy had been moving through the area at the time. On 11 November 1943, Blackfish stalked a Japanese destroyer, but the submarine attacked first. Each missed opportunity to strike the enemy hit hard at the heart of the crew. After another frustrated attack opportunity on 14 November 1943, Davidson lamented that "a submariner’s dream almost came true. I guess I don’t live right." Blackfish′s luck turned when she sighted a Japanese convoy on 22 November 1943. She trailed the column of ships and patiently waited to assume a proper attack position. At 11:21, she dove in preparation for an attack. Twenty minutes passed before she suddenly heard several explosions, which her crew believed to be depth charges, and the Japanese convoy changed course and disappeared. The convoy’s escorts had been attacking Drum, which was nearby. Blackfish regained contact with the convoy and continued following it into the evening of 22 November 1943. While on the surface at 00:06 on 23 November 1943, she fired a spread of six torpedoes at the 4,500-gross register ton cargo ship No. 2 Yamato Maru at . Davidson felt certain that at least three of the torpedoes hit their mark. The attack instantly alerted the escorting submarine chasers, which converged on Blackfish. She quickly dove. The convoy’s escorts pursued