CGS ''Vigilant'' was a

Fisheries Protection Maritime patrol or maritime reconnaissance is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to active ...

patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

employed on the Canadian

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. Completed in 1904, the vessel remained in service on the Great Lakes until 1924. The vessel was then chartered by the Canadian Customs Preventive Service until 1929 for service on the East Coast of Canada. The ship was sold to private interests and converted to a

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

. She remained in service until 1956 when the vessel was

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

Description

''Vigilant'', designed as an armed patrol vessel for service on the Great Lakes, was of steel construction and fitted with a

ram bow A ram on the bow of ''Olympias'', a modern reconstruction of an ancient Athenian trireme A naval ram is a weapon fitted to varied types of ships, dating back to antiquity. The weapon comprised an underwater prolongation of the bow of the sh ...

. The vessel was long with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of . ''Vigilant'' had a tonnage of . The ship was powered by two

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) cylinder, then having given up heat ...

s driving two

screws A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

creating (

nominal Nominal may refer to: Linguistics and grammar * Nominal (linguistics), one of the parts of speech * Nominal, the adjectival form of "noun", as in "nominal agreement" (= "noun agreement") * Nominal sentence, a sentence without a finite verb * Nou ...

) or . This gave the vessel a maximum speed of . The vessel was armed with two QF 3-pounder guns.

Service history

''Vigilant'', described as the "first modern warship to be built in Canada", was acquired for patrol service on the Great Lakes to replace the aging . The vessel was constructed by Polson Iron Works Limited at their shipyard in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and was launched on 11 September 1904, and completed later in the year. ''Vigilant'' was sometimes described as a "third class

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...

". ''Vigilant'' was credited at the time by the

Minister of Marine and Fisheries The minister of fisheries () is the minister of the Crown responsible for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). The minister is a member of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the Canadian Cabinet ...

Louis-Philippe Brodeur Louis-Philippe Brodeur, baptised Louis-Joseph-Alexandre Brodeur (August 21, 1862 – January 2, 1924) was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, politician, federal Cabinet minister, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, and puisne justice of ...

as being the nucleus of the future

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

. Upon entering service, the crew of the vessel wore naval-style uniforms, a first for Canada. The vessel entered service in 1904 as a fisheries patrol vessel. On 7 June 1905 ''Vigilant'' collided with the fishing steamer ''Grace M.'' east of Middle Island in

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

. ''Grace M'' sank and two of fishing vessel's crew drowned in the incident. ''Vigilant'' remained on fisheries patrol until 1924, when the vessel was sold by the Department of Marine and Fisheries. In 1926 ''Vigilant'' was chartered by the Customs Preventive Service for East Coast patrols to counter smuggling. Between 1927 and 1929, ''Vigilant'' patrolled Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast. The vessel was later converted to a barge and was scrapped in 1956 by Steel Co. in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigilant Cruisers of the Royal Canadian Navy Patrol vessels of the Canadian Coast Guard 1904 ships Fishery protection vessels Ships built in Toronto Cruisers of Canada Auxiliary ships of the Royal Canadian Navy Canadian Government Ship