HMS Vigilant (1774) explained

HMS Vigilant was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 October 1774 at Bucklers Hard.

By 1779 she had been deemed unseaworthy by the navy. She was stripped of her sails and used as a floating battery to support the amphibious landing of British Army troops on Port Royal Island, South Carolina prior to the Battle of Beaufort.^[1] From 1799 she served as a prison ship, and was broken up in 1816.

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. .
• Book: Rowland, Lawrence. Moore, Alexander . Rogers, George . The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina: 1514–1861. University of South Carolina Press. 1996. Columbia, SC. 978-1-57003-090-1. 194626437.

Notes and References

1. Rowland et al, p. 216