A number of vessels of the British revenue services, at times known as the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

HM Customs and Excise HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the ...

HM Revenue and Customs HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...

, and most recently

UK Border Agency The UK Border Agency (UKBA) was the border control agency of the Government of the United Kingdom and part of the Home Office that was superseded by UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement in April 2013. It was forme ...

, have been named ''Vigilant'': * was a customs cutter built in 1901 and converted into a

houseboat A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a home. Most houseboats are not motorized as they are usually moored or kept stationary at a fixed point, and often tethered to land to provide utilities. How ...

in 1920. She is currently laid up awaiting preservation. * was the former , acquired in 1921 and the sole Revenue vessel during the 1920s. * was the former , acquired in 1947. * is a customs cutter built in 2003, and in service as of 2009 (previously HMRC ''Vigilant'', and HMCC ''Vigilant'').

Notes

The Inland Revenue and

Departments merged to form

on 18 April 2005, and from this time customs cutters changed their prefix from "HMRC" (Her Majesty's Revenue Cutter) to "HMCC" (Her Majesty's Customs Cutter). Following transfer to the UK Border Agency this was shortened to the current ''HMC'' (Her Majesty's Cutter).

References

* ''King's Cutters and Smugglers'', by Keble-Chatterton, E, George Allen, 1908 * ''Smuggling: a history, 1700 - 1970'', Phillipson, D, David & Charles, 1973 * ''King’s Cutters – The Revenue Service and the War Against Smuggling'', Smith, G, Conway Maritime Press, 1983 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigilant, Hmrc