A shed and slipway were built for her in Baker's Bay below Erskine Point, but enthusiasm seems to have been short-lived; she spent most of her time out of the water to preserve her galvanised hull.

In March 1886 Rear Admiral R A E Scott of Dunedin, honorary Commodore of the Naval Artillery Volunteers, arrived at Lyttelton in the course of a tour of inspection.

Captain McLellan, the harbour master and commanding officer of the Lyttelton unit met him at the station and escorted him to where the torpedo boat was waiting, steamed up at Gladstone Pier.

The trip was not a success; The Lyttelton Times describes the vessel's performance as "enough to make a marine engineer weep tears of gall!".

The Lyttelton Times writer did not blame the Volunteers for this dreary performance but rather the inability of the Government to provide a full-time engineer to service her.

When the Government later offered the vessel for sale it was bought for almost nothing by Mr Mark Thomas, a well-known Lyttelton steam launch proprietor.

The conning tower was eventually used in a nearby paddock as a watering trough, the steel plating, funnels, and deck fittings long since removed.