Crews then turned to placing a cap over the pipe -- not to stop it, but to direct at least some of the oil to ships on the surface.

VOA: special.2010.06.04

BP said it hoped to know within hours whether the tube had successfully diverted the oil to a tanker at the surface.

VOA: standard.2010.05.14

Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi says much of the oil is under the surface, where it cannot be monitored."

VOA: standard.2010.05.17

They were still warm, perfectly crunchy, and had a shimmer of oil on the surface.

NEWYORKER: Snacks for a Fat Planet

So there will still be oil on the surface the day the well is capped.

WHITEHOUSE: Daily Press Briefing

The initial estimates that were done used overhead photography to measure the amount of oil on the surface, right?

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing