The then Canadian Prime Minister, Sir John Thompson, died in England just after being sworn in as a member of Queen Victoria's Privy Council in December 1894: he was repatriated to Halifax, Nova Scotia on Blenheim, which was painted black for the occasion.

[2] Prince Henry of Battenberg died from malaria while on active duty on board HMS Blonde off Sierra Leone in January 1896 and Blenheim repatriated his body from the Canary Islands.

On 27 January 1897 Blenheim accidentally rammed and badly damaged the French five masted barque France I, one of the longest tallships afloat at the time.

The watchmen aboard France I shouted, sounded the ship bell, fired flares and blew the foghorn, and Blenheim altered course at the last possible instant and gave France I a glancing blow instead of a full broadside-on ramming that would probably have sunk her, as period warships had ram bows, a very deadly feature as shown by the HMS Victoria / HMS Camperdown collision.

[3] She was recommissioned on 2 January 1901 with a complement of 593 men[4] to serve at the China station to support the British position during the Boxer Rebellion.