The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-01

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is now finishing up her career as
peaceful carrier of the mails. Unless a
West Indian hurricane shall wrench
her apart or drive her to pieces on
one of the reef-boun islands of the
Caribbean sea, she should be good for
a quarter of a century more service, for
she still is staunch and tight and as
fleet of foot as when she was Launched.
The Vigilant is now a schooner. What
What her rig was when she first took
the water in 1851 no man can Say-lt
has been forgotten. But she was buiit
to endure Her pirate owner saw to
it that she-was put together in the best
style of the art of that day. He wanted
a vessel that would withstand shock
and assault by cannon or by ramming.
The cost mattered little to him. Part
of her timbers came from the far East
Indies to be combined in her hull with
the best ship building material that
the new world could produce. And so
il happened that her ribs and knees
are of live oak and her hull of endur-
ing teak. Then, with two Long Ioms
amidship and a couple of carronades
on her forcastle. she headed for the
Caribbean to prey upon the Spanish
Main"
Every little islet in the Caribbean at
that time had its robber entertain.
Piracy f1ourished there as it never has
flourished anywhere else except in the
Malayan Archipelago. When there was
no one else at hand to rob, the pirates
preyed upon each other. II was IN
those waters that Bluebeard had ruled.
He was king of the island of st. Thorn
as. and Blackboard was across the
strait on the island of st. John. Blue
beard had built a castle on st. Thomas,
and visitors to the pretty, smuggling
town of Charlotte Amelia can see IT to
this day when they enter the harbor
a big, gray stone, turreted affair tnat
hristles on the side hill above the red
rooted white cottages below And on
the other side hill they can see the
castle built by Blackboard to rival IT.
They were descendants of the daring
and desperate buccaneers who bad
sailed under these famous pirates, who
built the Vigilant. And in her way she
soon achieved a reputation worthy OF
the ancestors of her crew.
EVERYWHERE among the islands, from
Trinidad to the Yucatan Strait, the
Vigilant was known, and many a craft
laden with merchandise or with treas
ure for old Spain paid tribute to her
Much blood was split upon her decks In
those days and many merry dance
she led Spanish and English gunDoats
Once when she had pillaged a craft
in sight of Havana she had a close
shave of it. Chased along the north
coast of Cuba by the Spaniards, she
ducked down the Windward Passage
only to run into a fleet of Britishers on
the lookout for pirates that had scut-
tied some merchantmen on the north
coast of Jamaica. She was known to
them, and there was another chase, ex-
4. Il
10 the Mona Passage, where she slipped
them and ran north, only to find those
same Spaniards looking for her along
the Porto Rican coast. She headed off
IN the north to run around them and
reach Antigua, near which she rendez-
voused with other traders under the
black flag" The Spanish fleet split
into sauadrons to make sure of de-
stroying her, and while one squadron
sailed in pursuit another headed along
the coast to the east to cut her off from
the passages between the islands to the
south.
The piraticaI skipper Of the Vigilant
was a tactician as we'll as a fighter.
The Vigilant was showing her heels TO
the Spaniards, when IL was observed
that one of the gunboats was far ahead
of and outsailiug her company. The
Vigilant's skipper thought he might be
| able to whip that gunDoat Derore the
others got up. so he rugged drag OF
a couple of spars ana an ola san ana
heaved IL overheard, and then that
Spaniard overhauled him so fast that
the crew began to cheer in anticipation
of an easy victory. But the Vigilants
captain had swung both Of his 'long
Toms" over to starboard and double
shotted them, and when the Spaniard
was within easy range he cut loose
from the drag, and. swinging around
TO the south, gave him both guns be-
! tween wind and water-hulled him and
left him sinking as he headed again for
Antigua. But this maneuver had taken
time and the long-shore squadron had
observed it, and made the most of It;
| thew were scudding across her course
into the northeast when the Vigilant
came about. There was running
| Aght then, in which the stout timbers