 The ship was powered by a 1,500 ihp triple-expansion steam engine driving a single propeller in the stern and giving "Avance" a maximum speed of in open water.She had two coal-fired boilers and a smaller auxiliary boiler, all in a single engine room amidships.Her stores could hold 100 tons of coal, which was fed to the boilers at a rate of 1.3 to 1.8 tons per hour when the ship was breaking ice.