MORE COVERAGE: Almost six years to the day after the  Selendang Ayu cargo ship slammed onto the rocks of Unalaska Island, a similar ship found itself adrift and in danger of a  collision with a nearby island in Alaska's rocky Aleutian Chain.

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A stroke of luck and human ingenuity on Saturday seemed on the verge of saving the 738-foot Golden Seas freighter from the fate that befell a sister ship north of the Aleutian islands six years ago.

The 738-foot Selendang Ayu, a Malaysian cargo carrier broke up in heavy seas and went aground off Unalaska Island on Dec. 8, 2004, killing six crew and causing a small environmental disaster.

The Greek-owned, Liberian-registered cargo carrier Golden Seas appeared to be facing the same fate Thursday night after the turbocharger on its main engine failed in 40- to 50-knot winds and three-story-high seas north of the Aleutian Island chain about 400 miles west of the port of Dutch Harbor. For hours, massive seas drove the crippled ship toward what looked to be disaster on the northern tip of Atka Island, home to less than 100 people but more than 2,500 reindeer.

But the normally turbulent seas in the area began to settle somewhat on Friday, and the crew of the Golden Seas was able to squeeze enough power out of the ship's crippled engine to began clawing away from the rocky spine of the Aleutians.

The U.S. Coast Guard was Saturday reporting the crew had been able "to utilize limited engine capability to maneuver northeast away from land."

And help was on the way. The tug Tor Viking II from Dutch Harbor was expected to reach the Golden Seas sometime around noon Saturday. With seas down from 30 feet to 20 feet, the winds easing and the forecast moderating for the next several days, it has the capability to help limp the Golden Seas back to Dutch, still about 350 miles to the east.

The Coast Guard said, however, that it remains prepared to stage a rescue if anything goes wrong. Two Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and crews arrived in Dutch Harbor Friday and were to continue to the remote community of Adak to be in the best position to provide help if needed. The Golden Seas, which once drifted to within about 40 miles of that community of less than 400, is now reported to be about 70 miles to the north of the island.

The Golden Seas was headed from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to United Arab Emirates via what is called the Great Circle Route, which leads ships straight across the North Pacific to Unimak Pass, near the western end of the Alaska mainland, and then west along the north side of the Aleutians before swinging south again near the west end of the chain. It offers the shortest ocean route between ports on the West Coast of North America and Asia.