a Meteor Was seen & someone just Happened to have a railroad trainman's lantern Handy
to Turn on & Throw into the water. & it (Manufactured before 1974,}
was so waterproof, it continued to burn underwater for 43 Hours.
I'm personally guessing the Police, The land owners ,
Or the Air force decided it was time to end the search.
or some Joker just threw the lantern in overnight to see what extra drama they could create
when the searchers came back in the morning