She sailed in the trial races against Bedouin, Puritan, and Priscilla, for the honor of defending the America's cup against Genesta, but that task was given to Puritan.
The keel cutter Colonia, built by Herreshoff as a cup defender to sail against Valkyrie II., proved less fast than Vigilant. Her fault was a deficiency of lateral plane, which made her sag off bodily to leeward in a most discouraging manner. After serving as a drill ship for the crew of the Defender in 1895, she was purchased by Commodore Clarence A. Postley, fitted with a centerboard from a plan by Cary Smith, at Lewis Nixon's shipyard, and rigged as a schooner. She is now (1899) the crack American "two-sticker."
Old-timers will recollect how slow the schooner Sappho was until Capt. "Bob" Fish hit upon the bold expedient of "hipping her out," which was done by swelling out her midship section about fourteen inches, and tapering it off to nothing about thirty feet each way. The result was that Sappho, theretofore so sluggish that she could scarcely get out of her own way, beat nearly every craft bold enough to encounter her, and won many cups and much kudos for her sportsmanlike owner, Mr. William P. Douglas. Mr. A. Cass Canfield altered the sloop Priscilla considerably, but it cannot be said that he was altogether successful. When Volunteer was transformed into a schooner her forebody
