The ship made an emergency turn to starboard and rang up full speed, just in case circumstances forced her to beach. Down by the bow, "Yukon" transferred fuel oil aft and pumped about more overboard to correct the problem. Far more serious, her entire bow was blown open from the stem aft to some , the outer shell of her double bottom was ruptured to port and starboard, and a dangerous crack appeared across the vessel amidships. Such was her condition when she began limping back to Reykjavík that many on board doubted her ability to make it the short distance into the Icelandic port.