Lighthouse tender

A lighthouse tender is a ship specifically designed to maintain, support, or tend to lighthouses, or lightvessels, providing supplies, fuel, mail and transportation.

In the United States, these ships originally served as part of the Lighthouse Service and now are part of the Coast Guard. The first ship constructed as a tender was Shubrick. However, the first American tender of the Lighthouse Service was a former revenue cutter Rush, which was acquired in 1840.