[1] She was cut in half and transported on barges through the Saint Lawrence locks for service on the Atlantic coast, although the war ended before she could see any action.

[1] On 23 January 1909, Gresham came to the aid of RMS Republic after receiving the first-ever wireless distress signal when she collided with SS Florida near Nantucket.

An hour or two later she rescued the crew of Canadian Schooner S. A. Fownes just before she sank in a gale 5 or 6 miles south east of Monomoy Island having been blown over Pollock Rip Shoal earlier.

[3][4][5] On 1 November 1913, the Gloucester fishing schooner Annie M. Parker ran aground on Rose and Crown Shoal near Nantucket.

On the following day, the surviving crewmembers were rescued by the schooner Tilton bound from Jacksonville, Florida, to Portland, Maine, with a cargo of lumber.

Astrakhan secured the derelict and left crewmembers to claim salvage rights on the $8,000 of salted cod in her hold before continuing on to France.

On 3 September 1918, Captain B. M. Chiswell, gunner F. W. Sarnow and boatswain H. B. Berg received letters of commendation for destroying the wreck of the four-masted schooner Madrugada off Winter Quarter Shoal near Virginia[8] after she had been attacked by SM U-117 on 15 August.

[9] After the Coast Guard was returned to the Department of the Treasury by the Navy on 28 August 1919, Gresham continued to serve until decommissioned on 19 January 1935.

In September 1933, Gresham was temporarily assigned to the U.S. Navy Special Service Squadron for two months patrolling the Florida Straits near Cuba.