She was badly damaged during one such bombardment in March and had to beach herself to avoid sinking.

To avoid possible sinking or flipping of the barge, the captain dumped the rock.

Cincinnati had already been rammed several times and was out action, fleeing to shallow water to avoid sinking.

In May 1945, she struck a mine off Swinemünde and had to be grounded to avoid sinking.

Driva was attacked by German aircraft several times and beached to avoid sinking.

The idea is to avoid sinking, capsizing or falling in.

To avoid sinking, the captain decided to beach the ship north of Cape Arago.

Valiant had remained in steam and was able to avoid worse damage or sinking.

All passengers were safely evacuated, but the ship had to be beached to avoid sinking.

Only by rapidly dropping her weighted keel was the submarine able to avoid sinking.

The path had long since vanished, but the giants seemed to know just where to step to avoid sinking into the increasing mire.

Now Tommy was surprised by how desperately he wanted to avoid sinking further in Gi's esteem.

She was able to avoid sinking into the squalor that engulfed Jessie and Natalie!

The city is already more than 25 percent below normal capacity and needs a healthy spring runoff from the mountains to avoid sinking to even more troublesome levels.

She had arrived at the turning-point of her life, where she must risk everything to avoid sinking into the abyss.

Heavy machine gun fire assaulted the troops from all directions as they bunched together on the firmer ground to avoid sinking in the boggy mud.

Will Riker was concentrating on the present; perhaps that was the only way he could avoid sinking into despair.

Less protection for vested interests is the key for the EU to avoid sinking into irrelevance on the world stage.

Perhaps I can avoid sinking any of my fortune in an annuity.

These fringes aid with traction and speed, and help the lizard avoid sinking into loose, sandy dunes.