Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury suggested the creation of the Revenue Cutter Service in a letter dated October 2, 1789. After being approved by Congress, the service started with 10 boats called cutters. At the time a cutter was a small fast sailing vessel described as "a small, decked ship with one mast and bowsprit, with a gaff mainsail on a boom, a square yard and topsail, and two jibs or a jib and a staysail." Before the Revenue Cutter Service began, the Continental Navy had been disbanded. Until the United States Navy was formed in 1794, the Revenue Cutter Service was the nation's only naval force.