exciting moment on 21 April, a plane caught Blackfish somewhat off guard and dropped a small bomb on her, but she emerged unscathed. On 26 April 1944, Blackfish received orders to perform lifeguard duty for Allied airstrikes, then report to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for lifeguard duty. Accordingly, she departed her patrol area. While en route to her lifeguard station on 27 April 1944, Blackfish encountered a Japanese convoy. The ensuing pursuit resulted in several hours of constant maneuvering. Sellars marveled that although the Japanese ships "can see fairly plainly through the mist," they did not take notice of Blackfish′s presence during the chase. He concluded that they did not have radar, and having gained an advantageous position he gave the order to fire four torpedoes at one of the ships ay an approximate distance of . Following the launch, a large cloud of black smoke appeared over the target. The convoy’s escort and the ship Blackfish had targeted then faded out of view. Blackfish scoured the waters for nearly an hour but did not locate any of the ships. Numerous plane sightings over the next several days forced Blackfish to remain submerged for long periods of time. On 2 May 1944, she slightly shifted her patrol zone and began searching the waters between Yap and Palau for possible shipping. On 4 May she shifted over to her lifeguard duties, and her log noted with some surprise that "no planes have been sighted since the first day in this area." On 6 May, Blackfish departed the area to proceed to Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 19 May 1944, concluding her eighth war patrol. Blackfish′s eighth patrol was one of the longest made by any submarine during World War II, having lasted a total of 80 days. Despite the prolonged time at sea, the patrol had also produced little damage to Japanese shipping, although Blackfish had conducted her lifeguard and reconnaissance missions, and the patrol was deemed "successful" and worthy of the Submarine Combat Patrol Insignia. In his patrol report, Sellars observed that "a submarine should not be left on patrol for too long a period. This was brought home to us by the fact that the efficiency of all hands decreases rapidly after the fifty-day period. The lookouts, particularly, involuntarily slacked up, as shown by the bombings from planes, which came from directly overhead," and furthermore that "the boys were very