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. These locations were all within the 180 km 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.