[1] Her role in the rescue of passengers from the sinking SS City of Columbus under winter gale winds brought her nationwide popular acclaim.

[1][3] In the early morning hours of 18 January 1884, SS City of Columbus out of Boston, Massachusetts bound for Savannah, Georgia ran aground on rocks near Martha's Vineyard.

Due to high winds and cold weather, only a few lifeboats were able to be launched and most of them contained members of the crew rather than passengers.

[5] No help arrived on scene for more than five hours, with the first help coming from lifeboats manned by Massachusetts Humane Society volunteers of Wampanoag American Indians from Gay Head.

Lieutenant Charles D. Kennedy and four volunteers rescued the captain of the sunken steamer and four of his men that had been clinging to the rigging for twelve hours.

Second Lieutenant John U. Rhodes managed to save two men and recovered the bodies of others that were frozen to the rigging after several attempts.

The cutters assigned to this task were a part of the "Flying Squadron" under the command of Navy Commodore Winfield Scott Schley.