 During the 1970s, however, she became the primary platform for the NOAA Status and Trends Program and other environmental monitoring programs.Her home port was Charleston, South Carolina.In recognition of unusual competence in an emergency, excellent judgment, and superb seamanship, four members of "Ferrel"s crew – Commander John K. Callahan, Jr., NOAA Corps; Lieutenant Commander Richard P. Floyd, NOAA Corps; Chief Boatswain's Mate David L. Brannon; and Surveyor Seaman Gordon R. Pringle – received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 1981 for effecting the rapid rescue of a passenger who fell overboard from a sightseeing vessel in New York Harbor.