Minekaze-class destroyer. At 22:39, when dead ahead of the destroyer, Blackfish fired four torpedoes from her stern tubes. To Sellars’ astonishment, all four missed. Oddly, the attack also did not result in any retaliation from the destroyer. Blackfish continued to stalk the destroyer, and just after midnight on 13 October fired at it again. This attack also failed, and moments later Blackfish secured from battle stations. Both disgusted and mystified by the misses, Sellars decided it prudent to refrain from "wasting" more torpedoes on the destroyer and Blackfish returned to her patrol area empty handed. On 14 October 1944, about half of Blackfish′s crew became seriously ill when she surfaced, and this problem began to repeat itself every day. Otherwise, five uneventful days followed the failed attack on the destroyer, and on 19 October 1944 Blackfish shifted her patrol area, reaching her new area on 20 October. The daily sickening of the crew upon surfacing persisted, and no cause for the condition could be determined; some crewmen speculated that it was from the air, a test of which indicated the presence of only one percent carbon dioxide, well within safety limits. On 21 October 1944, Shark and Seadragon reported a significant engagement with Japanese ships. Blackfish was trailing the action, but upon surfacing more of the crew became sick and Sellars remarked that the "situation is assuming major proportions." On 22 October, it was determined that 90% of the crew had been sickened, with a number of the cases being quite serious. In addition to the sickened crew, an inordinate amount of radio traffic coming across the frequency — a result of Task Groups 17.11, 17.14, and 17.15 operating in the same area — impaired Blackfish′s communications. By 25 October 1944, a majority of Blackfish′s crew had regained their health, with only a few lingering cases, and Shark and Seadragon reported that they were out of torpedoes due to the numerous attacks they had executed in the preceding weeks. In Shark′s absence, Blackfish took temporary command of the task group. Early in the morning of 27 October 1944, she sighted three Japanese destroyers, but unspecified extenuating circumstances prevented her from attacking them. At 18:23 that day, she spotted several other Japanese ships, but poor positioning prevented the contact from developing into an attack, much to the disappointment of Sellars and his crew. Blackfish shifted her patrol area again, heading to