cruiser had survived, battle damage or operational reasons prevented her reply. Six nearby merchant vessels (Pan Europe, Saidja, , Sunetta, Centaur, and Hermion) were instructed to pass through that location and keep a lookout for survivors or wreckage of either ship, while four RAN auxiliaries (, , , and ) sailed from Fremantle to search the area. Aircraft from No. 14 and No. 25 Squadrons were relocated to Carnarvon to commence aerial searches the next morning. They were supplemented by two PBY Catalina flying boats, one each from Townsville and Port Moresby. On 25 November, was sent from Sunda Strait to follow Sydneys assumed course if she had headed for Surabaya or Singapore after sustaining damage.Olson, Bitter Victory, pp. 36–7 Several German lifeboats were spotted on 25 November during the air search off Western Australia. The 46-man cutter had come ashore at 17-Mile Well, the 57-man lifeboat was nearing Red Bluff when spotted, and a third lifeboat was further off the coast.Olson, Bitter Victory, p. 40 These locations were all within the coastline boundary of an enormous sheep station. That afternoon, the staff of Quobba Station rounded up the two groups that had made landfall with no resistance. On the morning of 26 November, aircraft spotted two boats at sea but were unable to find them again that afternoon. At sunset, the 31-man boat was located by the passenger ship Koolinda at , which recovered the sailors and made for Carnarvon.Centaur, which had been ordered to collect the Germans from Carnarvon and transport them to Fremantle, encountered Detmers' lifeboat at 22:20, at coordinates . The crew of Centaur lowered food to the 62 in the lifeboat, took on nine wounded, and began to tow the lifeboat. During the voyage to Carnarvon, the damaged and overloaded German lifeboat was swamped. Centaurs master lowered two of his lifeboats for the Germans to use before resuming the "motley towing combination". Arriving in Carnarvon on the afternoon of 27 November, the Germans were relocated from the boats to Centaurs cargo holds, where they were joined by their colleagues who had reached shore and Australian Army guards. The last boat, carrying 70 Germans and two Chinese, was spotted from the air at during the late morning of 27 November and was recovered shortly after by HMAS Yandra.Olson, Bitter Victory, pp. 56–7 On 28 November, HMAS Wyrallah found a German lifeboat and two four-man life rafts,