Over the centuries, sailing ships were built to the state of the art, wooden and then later iron and steel hulled. The sail arrangements and materials improved with the times. They were actually pretty safe and sturdy vessels and if well maintained and crewed they continued so.
Could they handle the real extremes in seas and storm, hurricanes etc....yes sometimes, again depending on the skill of the crews and the condition of the vessels.
As to todays sailing ships, yes there are expert sail Masters and crews out there. The ships if properly inspected and maintained, again they are safe as possible.
I do not know much about the Unicorn, but to have a vessel buckle, she has to have had issues in condition, which maybe of course why they were heading for repairs.
The MGM *Bounty*, was of course in all the recent Bounty movies and others as well. She was a tourist attraction and always running short on maintenance and the owners did not keep her in a good condition.
She sailed from Charleston to avoid Sandy and the Master miss calculated the Storm trac and ended up in the middle of the storm, she started taking on water ad capsized and sink.
There was about 15 men and woman onboard , 2 died (one was the Master). The USCG did thier usually amazing brave and wonderful job of saving the rest.
The owner is facing criminal charges at this time.
AKK
