She was sold out of the navy in 1920 and was purchased by a South African businessman to serve as a training ship for naval cadets under the name SATS General Botha.

The Mersey class carried enough coal to give them a range of 8,750 nautical miles (16,200 km; 10,070 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).

[2] Their main armament consisted of two breech-loading (BL) 8-inch (203 mm) guns, one each fore and aft on pivot mounts.

[7] In 1903, the ship was converted to a submarine tender and served at Sheerness from 1907 to 1917 and then briefly at Portsmouth and Campbeltown, Scotland, before being paid off in 1919 at Chatham Dockyard.

[6] She was sold for £8,000 in November 1920 to the Jersey-born South African entrepreneur T. B. Davis as a memory to his son who died during World War I.

Before departing for Plymouth for extra crewmen on 6 January 1921, the ship was visited by Sir Reginald Blanckenberg, High Commissioner for South Africa, and his wife.

The ship departed on 8 February and arrived in Cape Town on 26 March where she was greeted by the Minister of Defence, Colonel Hendrik Mentz and other notables.

On 15 December, King George V agreed to become the ship's patron and sponsored an annual gold medal for the best cadet aboard.

About a month later, she was docked to have her engines and funnel removed and her interior remodelled to create new messdecks, galleys and recreation spaces, returning to her moorings in August.

By the time that the RN returned her to the Board of Control, the ship was deemed uneconomical to repair and she was scuttled by gunfire from one of the local coast defence battery on 13 May 1947 in False Bay at coordinates 34°13′48″S 18°37′48″E / 34.23000°S 18.63000°E / -34.23000; 18.63000.