On May 2, 1961, at 8:30 a.m., a 92-foot, twin-masted brigantine, the Albatross, sank quickly after being struck by a violent storm without warning, 180 miles west of Key West, Fla. Six of the 18 passengers were lost as the boat was blown over on its side, then sank within 90 seconds.

The victims included the captain’s wife, the cook and four student sailors.

The Albatross was being operated as a floating school-at-sea program for teenage boys who primarily came from well-to-do families.

The staff on board acted as teachers, sailors and role models. They included Captain Christopher Sheldon, who taught languages, his wife Alice, a doctor who taught science, plus experienced seamen who taught English and math, and a professional cook who spoke English and Spanish.

In 1996, the feature film “White Squall” was released. It was directed by Ridley Scott, starred Jeff Bridges and was an exciting, dramatic “coming of age” portrayal of the events leading up to the tragic sinking of the Albatross and subsequent aftermath. The film was generally well received, based on a book written by Charles Geig, one of the surviving students.

Readers can easily find periodicals on the film and the incident itself for more details, but recently, some of us attended a local showing of the film and a discussion with two men who actually sailed on the Albatross, including one who was on board when the boat sank.

In what has become a very pleasant monthly Movie Night featuring nautical themes, the No Anchor Fine Foods & Provisions market on Pearl Street in Noank served a delicious pasta variety take-out buffet dinner on May 10. This was followed by a brief discussion prior to the film with Noank’s Mark Turner, who had served as crew on the Albatross from Mystic via a race in stormy weather from Newport to Bermuda before returning as crew on another sailboat.

After we watched the 1996 film, Mark introduced us to local Stonington artist Tod Johnstone, who was helmsman when the Albatross went down. Tod clarified some differences between actual events versus the dramatized script of the film, but not in a critical manner.

He had actually been involved with the making of the film and even had a small part, playing his own father in a more benevolent and supporting manner than Tod remembered as a teenager.

Tod acknowledged the sinking event itself was expanded to be longer than the actual 1 1/2 minutes. The sea was actually calm when Tod was at the helm, with the boat having almost no forward motion. The squall then hit with no warning as a “microburst” which involved a bolt of lightning followed by a sudden heavy wind and huge “wall” of water striking the side of the boat, knocking it over.

Sails were all still up, in an effort to catch any possible wind during the calm, causing further disadvantage. Under those sudden conditions, the helm had no effective control of the boat. Loose ballast also contributed to the rapid sinking.

Tod recalled some desperate rescue attempts, including his own, to free people in the cabins, which were to no avail because of the increasing water pressure on the doors as the boat sank. The crew was able to free up two lifeboats which rose to the surface. The remaining crew survived for two days before finally being spotted and picked up by a Dutch freighter, as the Albatross had not been operating in the actual shipping lanes.

Since the Albatross sank in international waters, the U.S. Coast Guard was not directly involved, and only interviewed the exhausted captain for about 20 minutes when the group returned to Tampa, Fla. He was not charged and did retain his captain’s license. However, a courtroom inquiry scene was added to the film for dramatic effect in order to help display the camaraderie between the student crew members as well as their loyalty to the captain. Tod felt that this emotional sequence did accurately represent how the group had felt at the end of the voyage.

The storm that sank the Albatross is referred to as a white squall, or microburst. Warm air from the lower atmosphere moves up to interchange suddenly with cold air. Lightning can also be an additional factor. The air then descends in a rapid column and can create sudden force winds up to as much as 150 miles an hour. It is an uncommon but very real event.

In this case, it produced the tragedy of lost lives and a lost ship.

Ed Johnson lives in Noank.