He led a four-boat night expedition from Porpoise in September 1827 to rescue British merchant brig Comet from Mediterranean pirates.

In 1830 he was appointed first officer in charge of the newly created Depot of Charts and Instruments at Washington, the rude beginning of the United States Hydrographic Office. It was Goldsborough who suggested creation of the depot and initiated the collection and centralization of the instruments, books and charts that were scattered among several navy yards. After two years he was relieved by Lt. Charles Wilkes.

Goldsborough led German emigrants to Wirt’s Estates near Monticello, Florida, in 1833 and then took leave from the Navy to command a steamboat expedition and later mounted volunteers in the Seminole War. After cruising the Pacific in frigate United States, he participated in the bombardment of Vera Cruz in Ohio. He served consecutively as commander of a detachment in the expedition against Tuxpan, senior officer of a commission which explored California and Oregon (1849–1850), Superintendent of the Naval Academy (1853–1857) and commander of the Brazil Squadron (1859–1861).

During his command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron October 1861 to September 1862, he led his fleet off North Carolina where, in cooperation with troops under General Burnside, he captured Roanoke Island and destroyed a small Confederate fleet. After special administrative duties in Washington, D.C., he took command of the European Squadron in the last year of the Civil War, returning to Washington in 1868 to serve as Commander of the Washington Navy Yard until his retirement in 1873.

Rear Admiral Goldsborough died 20 February 1877.

Source: Naval Historical Center, DANFS.