At 0145 on 22 October, the men on watch on "Angler"s bridge were startled by voices calling out of the darkness. Repeated attempts to locate the source of the voices proved unsuccessful, but the dawn soon revealed "one of the most gruesome sights imaginable as far as you could see ..." the water literally covered with wreckage and dead Japanese, most clad in Army uniforms. Aircraft in the vicinity made it too risky to stop and investigate a lifeboat, but "Angler" returned at sunset. At 1806, she brought this boat alongside and counted 26 surviving men, both soldiers and naval ratings. Determining who was the senior officer of the group, the submarine retained three men for questioning, and after giving the men remaining in the boat some food, water, and a course to land, away, released the lifeboat. The three prisoners retained on board — Second Lieutenant Seigi Shimazu, Sergeant Sei Fuji, and Sergeant Toyonaga Nishikawa — had willingly agreed to go along with the Americans.