Vigilance of Brixham – BM76

Brixham Sailing Trawler

Vigilance BM76 is one of only seven surviving sailing trawlers built in Brixham. When launched in 1926, she represented the pinnacle of trawler design and proved it by winning Brixham’s coveted George V Cup in the annual Trawler Race.  Sadly, she was moth-balled after just eleven years when steam-power took over from sail.

After World War 2, she escaped being broken up for scrap and was refitted as a gentleman’s yacht. She survived an attempted arson attack and several more years of neglect before enjoying yet another career as a sail training craft and an Arctic Survey Vessel.

In 1997 she was ‘rediscovered’ moored up on the Isle of Man and sailed back home to Brixham by a group of local enthusiasts to be restored. For many years she served as part Brixham’s Heritage Fleet but time has taken its toll and she is now the subject of a major restoration project in Plymouth ahead of her 100th centenery.