During her years as the Empress of the North, the ship ran aground five times. She hit bottom during her launching from the yard when the restraint system failed and some of the boat builders had to jump in the waters of Puget Sound to avoid being run over.
Throughout her reign as Empress of the North, the vessel encountered five separate incidents of running aground. She struck the seafloor during her initial launch from the shipyard when the safety harness failed, prompting some of the boat builders to take a perilous leap into the waters of Puget Sound to escape being crushed.