Cross-sectional drawing of a Microburst

Captain William Curry of the SV Concordia is reporting that the school ship was struck by a microburst, also referred to a white squall, which knocked down the 188′ three masted schooner,  rolling the ship 90 degrees. She sank in twenty minutes.  Microbursts are capable of generating wind speeds higher than 75 m/s (168 mph; 270 km/h).  All aboard made it to the lifeboats and were rescued.

We’ve made it! British teenagers survive 40-hour ordeal after ship is sunk by towering waves

The captain also reported that the ship capsized on Wednesday rather than Thursday as had been previously reported.

The schooner Pride of Baltimore in 1986 and the school ship Albatross in 1961 are both believed to have been capsized by microbursts or “white squalls.”  Microbursts also cause “wind shear” which has been blamed for the crashes of several commercial air liners.