[1] The early 1830s see her making a voyage to India, Ceylon, and travelling as far as Singapore before returning to England.

In 1867 Southampton left Harwich and moved to Hull and, on 18 June 1867, began service as a certified industrial training ship.

Certificated industrial training ships[2] were special kinds of certified industrial schools which were set up to attempt to solve the problem of destitute children who, before the Elementary Education Act 1870, were largely neglected and consequently often drifted into crime as a result of squalid living conditions and criminal associates.

The aims were to prevent boys from falling into bad company and to give industrial training.

Under this act, children under 14 years could be sent by two justices to an industrial school if not under proper control and guardianship, if an orphan, or in danger of adopting a criminal life.

Later acts allowed children to be committed if their mothers were convicted of a crime, if they were living with common or reputed prostitutes, or if under 16 years and had been assaulted or neglected likely to cause injury.

The Elementary Education Act 1870 allowed school boards to take over the powers of the prison authorities; they could contribute to the upkeep of voluntary industrial schools, build new ones, or enter into an agreement with managers which resulted in children being committed for persistent truancy.

Southampton, moored on the River Humber at Hull, was established as a training ship in 1866.

The boys were transferred to the training ship Mount Edgcumbe,[7] which was the renamed HMS Winchester, anchored in the River Tamar at Devonport.