The small town racing to salvage a mystery shipwreck

Freezing waves crashed into Shawn Bath and Trevor Croft as they braved the unforgiving swells of the north Atlantic. Snow fell as the two local men took turns with a hacksaw: one cutting through the planks of a centuries-old shipwreck while the other kept a close watch on the cresting breakers.

- Leyland Cecco

"Each wave lifts you up and can toss you around. And the ship is full of copper, brass and wood spikes sticking up, so there's potential for injury," said Bath, a former urchin diver who, with Croft, runs a local marine cleanup project. "But it's just super exciting to be a part of the whole thing."

A shipwreck that mysteriously appeared off the southern coast of Newfoundland last month has been at risk of disappearing just as quickly, as storms batter the remains of the vessel. Keenly aware that they are in a race against time and the forces of nature, dozens in the Canadian coastal community of Cape Ray have banded together to protect the wreck.

"The last couple of days, the ship has taken quite a pounding. We've had a strong wind and a lot of snow. And the ship's been breaking up over the last few days with pieces washing ashore," said Bath last week. "That's good - it means we can recover [the fragments]. But right now we need to get the ship out of the water before the next storm comes."