After the ship had sailed through Unimak Pass, the ship's engine malfunctioned and was shut down, at around noon on 6 December. At this point, the ship was north-west of Bogoslof Island and around from Dutch Harbor, the nearest port. The cause of the engine failure was found to be a cracked liner in the no. 3 cylinder and the ship's engineers decided to isolate that cylinder, restart the engine using the five remaining cylinders and sail to Dutch Harbor, where the defective cylinder could be repaired. By 21:00, the no. 3 cylinder had been isolated but the engine could not be restarted. At this time, the wind was Beaufort force 8, from the north-west, and the ship was drifting towards land at about .