Here is a very interesting video demonstrating how massive ocean liners are pulled off the rocks when the flounder in a storm. This one is of the MT Phoenix when it was pulled from a South African beach back in July, 2011.
The success of getting it off the rocks was a combination of very good planning, extremely powerful tug boats and making sure you working with the tides and swells.
Flickr Photo Credit: Wreck at Heron Island / brittgow / CC BY 2.0
