The 17-year-old New Zealander was one of 64 people rescued from the stricken Canadian ship that was full of high school and university students on an educational trip.
A distress signal was picked up from the three-masted SV Concordia about 5pm Thursday, (8am Friday NZT) the Brazilian Navy said in a statement, and a Brazilian Air Force plane later spotted life rafts about 500km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
Forty-eight students were aboard the vessel, said Kate Knight, head of West Island College International of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which operated the Class Afloat programme.
The ship, which had left port with the students two weeks ago, had capsized in strong winds and heavy seas.
Ms Barry, formerly from Long Bay College in the North Shore, had never sailed before and was scared prior to the trip.
Her father, Desmond, told 3News one of the hardest moments was to let her go on the boat knowing how afraid she was.
It took nine hours after the Barry's heard the ship was in trouble before they heard their daughter was safe.
"I was praying for the bad, but you also understand it could be the worst."
He said if his daughter wanted to, she would be allowed to continue her trip.
Edgardo Ybranez, captain of the Philippine flagged Hokuetsu Delight cargo ship, said his ship rescued 44 of the victims in rough, dangerous seas. The remaining people were picked up by another ship.
Ybranez said the Concordia's doctor had suffered an injury before the rescue, "but he is OK now".
All the rest were unhurt, Ybranez said: "You can tell their parents that everything is OK; everybody aboard my ship is fine."
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement thanking the Brazilian Navy and the merchant crews "for their swift and heroic response".
"The skill and compassion demonstrated by Brazilian rescuers is a tribute to their training, spirit and seamanship," he said.
School officials said 42 of those aboard were from Canada. Ms Knight said others hailed from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Europe and the West Indies.
Navy spokeswoman Maria Padilha said the students spent up to 16 hours on life rafts before they were rescued between 4am and 9am.
She later said that some of those rescued were transferred to a Brazilian Navy ship late Friday and that the first of two ships carrying the passengers back to Rio was expected to dock around 9am.
The ship had visited Europe and Africa since leaving Canada in September, and it had just begun a five-month semester programme on leaving Recife in Brazil's northeast on February 8. It was scheduled to dock Tuesday in Montevideo, Uruguay, then head to several islands in the Atlantic and to southern Africa and the Caribbean before returning to Canada.
The school's website said the 57.5m-long Concordia was built in 1992 and "meets all of the international requirements for safety". It carries up to 66 passengers and crew and also can operate under motor power.
