The “Yacht Vigilant Galop”

The Yacht Vigilant Galop is a piece with an interesting backstory. Even though the sheet music was published in 1893, the credited composer, Henry Maylath, had already passed away ten years earlier. Publishers like Oliver Ditson often reused earlier music and reissued it with new titles to match big events, in this case, the yacht Vigilant winning the America’s Cup over Valkyrie II.

The Vigilant was built in Bristol, Rhode Island, by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. She was owned by a syndicate, which included prominant Newporters, August Belmont, Jr and Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Nathaneal Greene Herreshoff was the skipper of the yacht for the America’s Cup.

This video features historic photos of Vigilant and the 1893 race, all sourced from the Library of Congress digital archives.