Rush (Richard Rush), 1831
Richard Rush (1780 - 1859) was nominated by President John Quincy Adams to be the 8th Secretary of the Treasury. He served throughout the Adams Administration from 7 March 1825 until 5 March 1829.
He was a statesman, diplomat, brilliant orator and key figure in two Administrations (Madison and John Quincy Adams), and came from a distinguished family, carving a distinguished career in public affairs in his own right. Quickly gaining statewide then national attention as a public speaker and successful trial lawyer, Rush was appointed Attorney General in Pennsylvania in 1811. In that same year, President James Madison made him Comptroller of the Treasury.
Builder: Webb and Allen, New York
Launched: NA
Commissioned: 1831
Decommissioned: Transferred to the Lighthouse Establishment in 1840
Length: 71'
Navigation Draft: 6' 8"
Beam: 20' 2"
Displacement: 112 tons
Propulsion: topsail schooner
Maximum Speed: NA
Complement: 20-24
Armament:? Much variation, typical was four 6 or 9-pounders.
History:
Rush was one of the 13 cutters of the Morris-Taney Class. These cutters were the backbone of the Service for more than a decade. Samuel Humphreys designed these cutters for roles as diverse as fighting pirates and privateers, combating smugglers and operating with naval forces. He designed the vessels on a naval schooner concept. They had Baltimore Clipper lines. The vessels built by Webb and Allen, designed by Isaac Webb, resembled Humphreys' but had one less port.
Rush's official name was the Richard Rush, named after Secretary of the Treasury at the time of her launching. The cutter operated out of New York. In January 1840 she was severely damaged by ice and on 30 March the Treasury Department authorized her transfer to the Lighthouse Establishment.
She has the distinction of being the "first" government-owned and operated lighthouse tender of the Lighthouse Establishment although her design as a revenue cutter left much to be desired when it came to servicing aids to navigation. She was identified in the official records as the USLHT Richard Rush. She serviced aids to navigation in and around New York Harbor.
The Lighthouse Establishment sold the Richard Rush in 1848.
Sources:
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
Douglas Peterson. United States Lighthouse Service Tenders, 1840-1939. Annapolis: Eastwind Publishing, 2000.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).