The Admiralty ordered that "Lord Clyde" be only repaired enough to allow for a passage home; that required six months of work and the ship was escorted back to Plymouth by the ironclad . She was again paid off upon arrival and her engines and boilers were removed to allow for her hull to be thoroughly inspected. The dockworkers found that her entire hull was colonized by a fungus, partly because unseasoned wood had been used in the ship's construction, and they spent the next three years attempting to kill the fungus and stop the continuing deterioration. All efforts failed and "Lord Clyde" was sold for scrap before she lost all value in 1875 for £3,730.