Four days later, on Christmas night, she encountered a storm in the Western Approaches to the English Channel. Afterwards, it was discovered that she had suffered structural damage and a crack was found across the weather deck from a rogue wave. The cargo then shifted. An SOS was issued on 28 December, by which time she was listing 45 degrees to port. British flagged vessel MV "Sherborne" and USS "General A. W. Greely" responded, "Sherborne" being first to arrive, early in the morning of 29 December. Carlsen, however, was reluctant to evacuate passengers and crew to a British ship. "Sherborne" was asked to remain on station in case the situation deteriorated before an American ship arrived. The situation did deteriorate, just as USS "General A W Greely" arrived mid-afternoon and both ships sent lifeboats to pick up passengers and crew. The crew and passengers were evacuated with the loss of one life (a male passenger). Captain Carlsen remained on board. After passengers and crew had been evacuated, MV "Sherborne" was released and continued her voyage to Manchester.