Lieutenant H. C. J. R. West was appointed in command on 1 March 1902, and shortly thereafter commissioned her for service with the Medway Instructional Flotilla. Her officers and crew were transferred to the destroyer in early May 1902, and she was commissioned on 8 May as tender to , the shore establishment at Sheerness. She took part in the Coronation Review for King Edward VII on 16 August 1902, with Lieutenant L. T. Jones temporarily in command from 8 August.