View source for Vigilant (1794 Baltimore schooner)

{{Short description|American schooner}}
{{other ships|Vigilant (ship)|USS Nonsuch (1813)}}
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| Ship image = Vigilant capturing a Spanish Pirate by Hostmark, 1800s.tif
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| Ship caption = ''Vigilant'' capturing a Spanish pirate
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|US|1794}}
| Ship name = ''Nonsuch''
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| Ship launched = 1794
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| Ship in service = 1794
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| Ship fate = Sold
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{{Infobox ship career
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| Ship country = Danish West Indies
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|DNK|1810}}
| Ship name = ''Vigilant''
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| Ship out of service = September 12, 1928
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| Ship fate = Sank
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Ship type = [[Schooner]]
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| Ship length = 90
| Ship beam = 29
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| Ship propulsion = Sails
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| Ship complement = 100
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'''''Vigilant''''' was a Baltimore [[schooner]], possibly originally launched in 1794 as ''Nonsuch''. She appeared in the [[Danish West Indies]] as ''Vigilant'' from 1824. She carried the mail and passenger traffic between St. Croix and St. Thomas in the 19th and the first decade of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCord|first=Jeff|date=1 February 2016|title=Slave Ship Redeemed as Beloved "World's Oldest Sailing Vessel"|url=https://oldtowncrier.com/2016/02/01/slave-ship-redeemed-as-beloved-worlds-oldest-sailing-vessel/|journal=Old Town Crier}}</ref> A storm sank ''Vigilant'' on 12 September 1928.

== Career ==

=== American service ===
In her early career she carried flour and cotton down to the West Indies and returned to Baltimore with coffee and sugar. Captain [[Thomas Boyle]] commanded her in 1803–1804 under the American flag.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}{{efn|There is a report that she was employed in the slave trade while under the American flag.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Leaflets from the Danish West Indies: descriptive of the social, political and commercial condition of these islands|last=Taylor, Charles Edwin|year=1888|location=University of Texas|oclc=900223036}}</ref> However, there is no vessel by that name in the database on the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.<ref>[https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/about Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.]</ref> Denmark abolished the slave trade in 1803, though she did not abolish slavery in her Caribbean colonies until 1848.}}

=== The Danish West Indies ===
Circa 1824 ''Nonsuch'' was sold to Danish West Indies' authorities, who renamed her ''Vigilant'' and used her for coast guard duties. Most famously, while under the command of Danish Captain Irmminger, with thirty soldiers on board, she captured a Spanish pirate ship that had been cruising and harassing merchant vessels in the narrow passage between St. Thomas and Puerto Rico.<ref name=":0" />

After her coast guard service, ''Vigilant'' became a mail and passenger ship. In the late 1800s she would depart St. Thomas twice a week for a five-to-six hour passage to St. Croix.<ref name=":0" /> She had many private owners, until the Government of the Danish West Indies purchased her.

In 1865, as steam ships between the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix became well established the steamer ''Clara Rothe'', 266 tons, replaced ''Vigilant'' in her mail packet role. Still ''Vigilant'' continued to sail well after the beginning of the next century.

== Loss ==
In the night of 13 September 1876, while at anchor at [[Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands|Christiansted]], St. Croix in the [[United States Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]], ''Vigilant'' sank during a hurricane.  She was raised in October 1876 and repaired by Captain Pentheny, her owner at the time. Again in October 1916, a hurricane took her to the bottom and again she was raised and repaired. On 12 September 1928 she sank again during a severe hurricane in Christiansted Harbor. That time she was beyond repair.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.modelshipmaster.com/products/tall_ships/Vigilant%20baltimore%20clipper.htm|title=VIGILANT: The most famous Baltimore Clipper}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.blytmann.com/vigilant.htm|title=Vigilant: The incredible story of a 130 year old Baltimore Clipper Schooner|last=Blytmann|first=Tage W.|date=2003|access-date=2019-04-27|archive-date=2019-10-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024085100/http://blytmann.com/vigilant.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{1876 shipwrecks}}
{{October 1916 shipwrecks}}
{{1928 shipwrecks}}

[[Category:1794 ships]]
[[Category:Baltimore Clipper]]
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]
[[Category:Schooners of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Baltimore]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in September 1876]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1916]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1928]]