Grounded ship in Newfoundland puts Coast Guard to the test for a mammoth salvage job

On a damp and blustery morning, three-metre swells crash into the cracked hull of the MSC Baltic III, which was grounded on a pinnacle of rock on the west coast of Newfoundland earlier this year. The wind carries whiffs of rotten egg. Salvage crews in hard hats and neon yellow jackets inch along in a temporary cable car suspended high over the churning Atlantic.

In a province with a long and dangerous maritime history, the Baltic’s grounding in the roiling shallows of Cedar Cove last February is a story Newfoundlanders retell with incredulity.