PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. – The crew of the 210-foot, Port Canaveral-based Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant returned home Friday at 9 a.m. concluding a 50-day deployment in the northern Caribbean.
The crew of the cutter Vigilant departed Port Canaveral April 7 to conduct a homeland security, law enforcement, and humanitarian aid patrol.
While underway, the crew of the Vigilant took part in three separate at-sea interdictions of grossly overloaded migrant vessels and the successful interdiction of a go-fast vessel on May 14, 2011, with four suspected drug smugglers carrying more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated value of $1 million.
“I have been aboard Vigilant for three years and this patrol was our most successful in terms of interdictions and humanitarian aid,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Ben Brostowicz, a crewmember aboard Vigilant. “Also, the crew successfully accomplished the goals it set for the growth and development of its crewmembers.”
The Vigilant crew primarily conducts counter drug and undocumented migrant interdiction patrols.
The Vigilant is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Port Canaveral.
