Vigilant 20"

 Vigilant was the victorious United States defender of the eighth America's Cup in 1893 against British challenger Valkyrie II. Vigilant was designed by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff and built in 1893 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, Rhode Island. It was Herreshoff's first victorious America's Cup defender design.

Design

Vigilant was a centerboard sloop with all-metal (steel and bronze) construction. It was owned by a syndicate led by C. Oliver Iselin and which included Edwin D. Morgan, August Belmont, Jr., Cornelius Vanderbilt, Charles R. Flint, Chester W. Chapin, George R. Clark, Henry Astor Carey, Dr. Barton Hopkins, E.M. Fulton, Jr. and Adrian Iselin. It was skippered by Nathanael Greene Herreshoff himself.

Career

Launched on June 14th, 1893, Vigilant beat Colonia, Jubilee and Pilgrim to win the 1893 American selection trials for the America's Cup defense. It then went on to successfully defend the cup against British keel cutter Valkyrie II.

Vigilant was broken up at a New London junkyard in 1910.

Specifications

    * Overall length: 38.5m

    * Length at water line: 25.9m

    * Beam (width): 7.92m

    * Draft: 3.96m

    * Displacement: 138 tonnes

    * Sail area: 1014.5 m2