''Vigilant'' was a Baltimore

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...

, possibly originally launched in 1794 as ''Nonsuch''. She appeared in the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...

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. 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 Thomas Boyle (29 June 1775 – 12 October 1825), an Irish American, as a captain of the schooner ''Comet'' and the clipper ''Chasseur'', was one of the most successful Baltimore privateers during the War of 1812. He briefly served in the United ...

commanded her in 1803–1804 under the American flag.

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. 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. 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, St. Croix in the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

, ''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.

Notes and citations

Notes Citations {{1928 shipwrecks 1794 ships Baltimore Clipper Individual sailing vessels Schooners of the United States Ships built in Baltimore Maritime incidents in September 1876 Maritime incidents in 1916 Maritime incidents in 1928