Mysterious shipwreck washes up on snowy Canada shores, prompting race to salvage vessel being "pummeled by the ocean"

A shipwreck believed to date from the 19th century has washed up on the snow-covered shores of Canada's Atlantic island province of Newfoundland, attracting a bevy of onlookers and archaeologists probing its mysterious past. Now local residents and scientists are racing to study and preserve the wreck before it disappears back into the sea.

Over the past weekend, a team of archaeologists and volunteers rushed to recover parts of the 100-foot-long ship in Cape Ray before tides take it back to the ocean depths. They managed to extract wooden planks, metal sheathing from the keel and other bits which have been sent to a laboratory for analysis.

"We're hoping to identify the wood species and age of the wood and to identify the make-up of the metal. Those things will give us clues as to its age and origin," archaeologist Jamie Brake told a news conference on Tuesday.