The VB 10,000 crane vessel commenced cutting operations shortly after midnight Sunday on the foremost section of the shipwrecked Golden Ray in the St. Simons Sound, according to Unified Command.

The 255-foot-tall crane vessel’s system of winches, lifting blocks and pulleys started pulling at around 1 a.m. on the anchor chain that employs force of tension to tear up through the shipwreck’s steel exterior and 12 interior decks, said U.S. Coast Guardsman Michael Himes, spokesman for Unified Command. Salvors had been working on the engine section at the rear of the shipwreck when the cutting chain broke on Feb. 26, prompting the fifth work stoppage in a monthlong effort to cut through the section’s dense steel.

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