U.S. Coast Guard

Lighthouses and buoys have been essential aids to navigation in the United States since colonial times. Originally the government contracted private vessels to service the country's aids to navigation or relied on cutters of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service. As the nation grew, so did its system of aids to navigation, and in the 185Os, the U.S. Light-House Board designed a vessel specifically for tending aids to navigation. Gradually, most lighthouse districts came to own at least one tender, some powered by sail, others by steam.