Eyewitnesses

The L-8 circled over the spot for about an hour with the crews of two ships as witnesses.

The crew of the fishing boat, the Daisy Grey, and a Liberty ship, the Albert Gallatin. Both crews gave testimony during the inquest that was to follow...

The L-8 dropped one flare and circled over he spot attempting to use the MAD, Magnetic Anomoly Detector, trying to detect if there was a large metal mass under the oil slick. Other than visual sightings, MAD was used to detect submarines, but had a very low rate of success. Less than a 4% success rate, MAD is a metal detector mounted in the gondola of the blimp.

Circling the spot, coming down towards the surface, the L-8 continued to circle until just after 9am. At tat point, it dropped ballast, and rising, headed back to  towards San Francisco instead of continuing to the Farralone Islands, site of a radio listening post, or heading north to Reyes Point.

Having not heard back from the crew of the L8 and unable to make contact, Moffett Field sent aircraft out to search and broadcast that all aircraft in the area should be on the lookout for the L8.

A Pan Am flight heading towards San Francisco spotted the L-8 at 10:20 , heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge. It was under control...

At about 10:30 witnesses saw the blimp suddenly rose dramaticly at a sharp angle and go up into the clouds...