In 1914 the First Lord of the Admiralty, one Winston Churchill gave on permanent loan a second ship the HMS President to the school, which was towed from West india docks to the Hamble just before the outbreak of WW1. Later smaller vessels were added to the training school, the Vishala and the Diana which made trips to the Mediterranean with 25 boys.

Training at TS Mercury was hard. Boys were rowed back and forth to the ship in all weathers and often in the dark, only for one boy to be drowned in the process. All boys had to be able to swim 1000 yards before they left. Disapline and cleanliness were the orders of the day. Gradually a more academic empahsis replaced the rigourous disapline of the school and the ship received less and less financial help.

Following the death of Beatrice Fry Commander Fry gave up his post and was succeeded by Commander Matthew Bradby who changed the emphasis further from outdoor activities to the pursuit of GCE Examinations. In turn Cdr Bradby was replaced by Cdr Ronald Hoyle and inspite of his tremendous efforts to keep the school going it was forced to close in 1968.