True North II was a small, 10.6 metre glass-bottom tour boat that sank on June 16, 2000, in 15 metres (49 ft) of water off of Tobermory, Ontario, Canada, in Georgian Bay, while transporting a class of 13 students from an overnight field trip to Flowerpot Island back to the mainland.
The ship sank suddenly in rain and nearly gale-force winds, causing the parents of the deceased to question the captain's decision to travel in such bad weather.
[1] The remaining 18 people on board (11 of whom were classmates of the victims) managed to survive by swimming approximately 200 metres to shore.
None of the passengers were wearing lifejackets, as it was not officially required by law at the time to don them unless the captain ordered a ship evacuation.
An inquest into the events was in fact later launched and ended in the jury calling for safer school field trips and boating standards in Ontario.