The vessel was later sold to the North American Mail Steamship Co. of Tacoma to work on their Oriental trade routes and renamed Columbia.

In 1882 Donald Currie & Co. decided to expand their fleet of steamers serving on their South African mail route and placed an order for two new steamers with Barclay, Curle & Co. Methven Castle was the second of these vessels and was laid down at the shipbuilder's yard in Whiteinch and launched on 19 September 1883, with Miss Maggie Gilchrist, daughter of James Gilchrist, being the sponsor.

[1][2] The ceremony was attended by several local dignitaries including Archibald Gilchrist, owner of Barclay, Curle & Co. and his son James.

[6][7] Due to her fairly small size compared to other vessels plying between England and South Africa, the steamer was used very sparingly during the first five years of her career.

[9] The vessel was then chartered for one trip to the Orient and proceeded to Cardiff for loading and departed it on 29 March 1897 bound for Nagasaki with a cargo of 3,400 tons of coal.

On 18 August 1899 it was reported that the U.S. Government chartered several commercial vessels, including Columbia, to transport troops and cargo to the newly acquired territories of the Philippines.

[20] After a quick check, Columbia loaded 635 officers and men of the Thirty Fourth Volunteer Regiment and sailed out for Manila on 8 September.

[24][25] Less than a month after her release Columbia was purchased by the U.S. Army for $147,200 and transferred to the Pacific Fleet to aid with transportation of troops and cargo to Alaska and the Philippines.

[26][27] The transport then proceeded to Seattle and after loading her cargo of supplies and over 1,000,000 feet of lumber as well as 103 men of Seventh Infantry and fifty three other passengers departed for Port Valdez on 25 April.

[28][29] USAT Rosecrans departed Seattle on 2 June on her next trip carrying two companies of the Seventh Infantry in addition to general merchandise, army supplies and over 800,000 feet of lumber bound for Nome.

An order was then given to lighten the vessel, and some cargo including general merchandise and some lumber were unloaded into life boats, surfboats and makeshift rafts.

Tug Meteor arrived in the afternoon of 17 June, and after further unloading and preparation work was finished, managed to pull Rosecrans off the sand bar and into deep water.

[31] After her return Rosecrans was transferred to Philippines service and left San Francisco on 3 September with elements of Seventh Artillery bound for Manila via Nagasaki.

[34] In January 1901 Rosecrans together with light cruiser Brooklyn and another transport Meade took part in rescue operation involving Sea Witch which was set on fire by her crew.

[35] Subsequently the transport was tasked with carrying more than thirty leaders of Philippine Revolution, including Pio del Pilar and Apolinario Mabini to the island of Guam.

[37][38] After unloading Rosecrans sailed for Seattle where she was put into dock for repairs and installation of refrigerating equipment in preparation to her resumed service to Alaska.

[41][42] In November the transport again travelled to the Philippines carrying several companies of the Twenty Eighth Infantry as part of troop rotation.

[43] She sailed back to the West Coast in late January 1902 carrying men and officers of the Twenty Second Regiment and arrived at San Francisco on 24 February.

[44][45] While Rosecrans was scheduled to leave for Manila again on 10 March, she required some repairs and the War Department eventually decided to sell the vessel to the highest bidder with the bidding process starting in April 1902.

[58] Under new ownership, the tanker largely continued serving the same general routes, carrying oil to Alaska, Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

In February 1907 while being put into dock in Oakland for general maintenance the ship went aground, but was floated next day suffering only minor damage.

[60] In September 1909 it was reported that the tanker ran into a strong gale while en route to Alaska which caused considerable damage to her bridge and aerials.

[61] In November 1911 Rosecrans came to the rescue of the Alaska-Pacific Company's steamer M. F. Plant who became disabled with her tail shaft broken of Point Arena.

The crew continued their fight to save the vessel, however, the hull on the port side was soon breached by sharp rocks flooding the hold of the tanker and extinguishing the engine.

[71] This survey showed that a large number of bottom plates were badly damaged or punctured in addition to her stern frame was set over, with the total estimate for repairs being approximately US$70,000.

[74] After the fires subsided the hulk of the tanker was examined and it was discovered that the damage was solely concentrated around the engine room with the bottom of the vessel being intact.

The weather was stormy and soon turned into a gale with strong rain and winds topping 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), all contributing to poor visibility.

Due to position of the vessel, strong winds and large waves that were washing over the stricken tanker it was impossible for life savers to reach Rosecrans and they had to cruise around in their lifeboats awaiting the end of the storm.

He spotted a large thick plank floating in the water and clung to it for about five and half hours slowly drifting north until he was washed ashore around 14:30 near Tioga Point.

The two remaining men were eventually picked up by the life savers in the afternoon once it appeared the storm was abating, and made it to the shore by the day's end.