Name HMCC Vigilant

VIGILANT was built in 1901 by Cox & Company, Falmouth, for the Commissioners of HM Customs as a customs cutter.

In 1901, the Inspector General of the Water Guard and Constructor of Shipping, Mr. H. Travis who had been seconded form the War Office presented a report on the aging, 35-year-old VIGILANT. They recommended building a larger, more robust vessel capable of patrolling beyond the Thames Estuary and cruising the coastline between Dover and Yarmouth. On June 29, 1901, a tender for a Single Screw Steam Cruiser was issued, with submissions due at Custom House, London. Messrs. Cox and Company of Falmouth submitted the winning bid to build the ship for £5390, which featured a triple-expansion engine capable of 11 knots. 

 She was based at Gravesend on the River Thames, her duties included controlling and clearing ships in the Port of London. Shortly after her launch, Mr. S.F. Parry (Deputy Chairman of the Board of Customs) used her to inspect ports from Gravesend to Penzance. This August trip proved so popular that it became an annual tradition for the Board. Notably, the ship features a mysterious panelled deckhouse on the after deck, the true purpose of which remains difficult to pin down. [1]

In 1911, King George V held a Review of the Fleet at Spithead. When the Admiralty ordered that only vessels flying the White Ensign could enter the lines of warships, Sir Laurence Guillemard—Chairman of Customs and Excise—retaliated. He cited a charter from King Charles II granting the department greater powers than the Navy in home waters. Flying Customs flags, she proudly sailed down the lines of battleships and anchored at their head.

Sold out of Customs service for £1850 in 1920, VIGILANT was converted to diesel, renamed SHALIMAR, and used as a cruising yacht. Thanks to American ownership, she was laid up and escaped destruction during the Second World War. 

After the war, renamed EILEEN SIOCHT she was purchased by Mrs.N Kelly, who used the boat as a houseboat. She was moored near the River Adur at the Lady Bee Marina in Shoreham. 

In 1988, Mrs Kelly's declining health prompted her to sell the boat. A local estate agent reached out to HM Customs, catching the attention of the Head of Customs Maritime Branch. He formed a charitable trust to buy the vessel, but before they could raise the £30,000 asking price, Mrs Kelly fell ill and sold the boat to a developer who immediately asked for £100,000.

Over the following year, the price dropped to the original figure. With sufficient funds, the Vigilant Trust finalised the purchase in March 1992, securing the only surviving vessel from the 1911 Fleet Review.

In July 2007, she was towed to Faversham where she was berthed pending plans for her continuing conservation and in January 2008, she was being prepared for a move to a parcel of land within the port where she will undergo restoration.

Update Feb 2020: VIGILANT currently at Chatham Docks, is being prepared for the short tow to Maldon, Essex, where it is proposed a full restoration to steaming condition will take place. A new plywood temporary deck has been made and the Medway Maritime Trust are awaiting the recommendations of the surveyor for temporary hull repairs in order to get insurance for the tow and approval from Port of London Authority to cross the Thames estuary.