The Albatros

I found this on the net:


Albatros
(formerly Alk) Schooner (2m). L/B/D: 82.8 × 20.8 × 9.8 (25.2m × 6.3m × 3m). Tons: 93 grt. Hull: steel. Comp.: 19. Mach.: aux., 1 screw. Built: Rijkswerf, Amsterdam; 1920.

Originally named Alk, the schooner later known as Albatros spent two decades working the North Sea before being purchased by the German government in 1937. Twelve years later she was purchased by Royal Rotterdam Lloyd for use as a training ship for future officers. Her small size made her ideal for this kind of work as the dozen trainees could receive personal attention from the six or so professional crew. While under Dutch ownership she sailed extensively in the North Sea, with occasional voyages as far as Spain and Portugal.

The American yachtsman Ernest K. Gann purchased Albatros in 1956, rerigged her as a brigantine, and spent three years cruising in the Pacific. In 1959, Ocean Academy, Ltd., of Darien, Connecticut, acquired the former training ship with the intent of putting her back in that line of work. Over the next three years, Dr. Christopher B. Sheldon and his wife, Dr. Alice Strahan Sheldon, ran programs for up to fourteen students in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. On May 3, 1961, while en route from Progreso, Mexico, to Nassau, the Bahamas, she was hit by a white squall about 125 miles west of the Dry Tortugas and sank almost instantly, taking with her four students, Alice Sheldon, and the cook. The loss of Albatros prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to undertake a thorough review of the stability and design requirements for sailing school ships, the new rules for which were codified in the Sailing School Vessels Act of 1982. White Squall, a film based on the ship's tragic loss, was released in 1995.

Press reports. Underhill, Sail Training and Cadet Ships. Film: White Squall.