A knockdown would have put the vents for the engine room under.
From the report:
At around 0400, DH2 ran below and woke the skipper. Together they returned to the flying bridge. At about the same time, the chief engineer (C/E) woke up. Having experienced bad weather at anchor before, the C/E got up and walked to the engine control room to prepare the vessel for manoeuvring. After making sure that all three generators were running, the C/E went to the wheelhouse to start the steering pumps and hydraulic pumps for the controllable pitch propeller.