Tenders

133 Foot Buoy Tenders

This is a booklet in PDF format describing the 133 Foot Buoy Tenders with photos and descriptions.

Tenders - The Unsung Heroes by Ralph Shanks Jr.

Lighthouses with their humanitarian keepers and ghost stories are well known to many. Lightships, though less popular, also have a wide following. But there is one aspect of the Lighthouse Service and its successor, the Coast Guard, that has been sadly neglected - the tender. Under the U.S. Lighthouse Service it was known as a Lighthouse Tender. Under the Coast Guard they are known as buoy tenders. This vessel tends buoys, hauls supplies, conducts search and rescue and law enforcement operations and sails in harms way. Under the USLHS tenders also towed lightships to station (prior to powered light vessels) and transferred the keepers, their families and possessions from station to station. The tender was the vehicle used by the District Inspector for his yearly white glove inspection of light stations.