She was subsequently purchased by the Colonial Office for the use of Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon as governor of the Fiji Islands.

On his appointment to New Zealand, Cruiser was purchased by the Royal Navy as a tender for the training ship Britannia and the name changed to Dart in March 1882.

[6] She was reported as potentially lost on Wednesday 26 June 1889 after a whaleboat was found near North Cape, Auckland, but she later sailed into Sydney.

Lieutenant Charles Edward Monro was appointed in command on 1 March 1900,[7] the same month she visited Sydney and Hobart.

She was again reported lost in July 1919 after wreckage was found near St Helens, Tasmania, but she turned up safely in Hobart.