The Canadian tall ship SV Concordia, a sailing school vessel, heads past downtown Halifax in this July 24, 2000, file photo. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)  A 17-year-old Whitehorse girl is safe after she and dozens of other students were rescued from a tall ship that sank off the cost of Brazil on Thursday.

Erica Trimble was one of 64 people aboard the Nova Scotia-based ship SV Concordia when it went down in rough seas about 550 kilometres southeast of Rio de Janeiro.

West Island College International of Lunenburg, N.S., which runs the Class Afloat program, said the 48 students, eight teachers and eight crewmembers were rescued from four life-rafts by merchant vessels early Friday.

Her father, Richard Trimble, told CBC News that Erica began the journey with Class Afloat in September.

"It's an adventure she'll remember for the rest of her life. You know, she'll have tales of this to tell," Trimble said in an interview Friday.

"She had tales before this even happened, so she'll probably have a couple of good ones now."

The drama on the high seas began Thursday around 8 a.m. AT, when Brazilian search authorities received a distress signal from the 57-metre ship.

Anxiously waiting for news

Everyone on the SV Concordia had to abandon the tall ship and spend the night in life-rafts, equipped with blankets and food.

"They told us what had happened and that they were still hoping to get a rescue … or it was in progress but they hadn't heard yet how many people were in the boats," Trimble recalled.

"They said to keep the phone line open and check emails. Yeah, we didn't sleep at all last night."

The Brazilian navy later spotted the rafts and rescued the passengers and crew.

Erica Trimble's parents waited several anxious hours overnight before they received the news they had wanted to hear.

"It was a little bit rough. My eldest daughter was home too — she was home for spring break — so she was part of it too," Richard Trimble said.

"But it's all good news now."

Trimble said he has not spoken with his daughter yet, and does not know how the ship sank.

Erica Trimble and the other rescued passengers and crew were expected to be moved to a navy frigate and taken to Rio de Janeiro.