HMS Seal was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was completed by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, in 1897. Lieutenant Arthur John Payne was appointed in command in September 1899, and she was commissioned as part of the Devonport Destroyer Instructional Flotilla. In February 1900 she was slightly damaged while in the Falmouth harbour when the destroyer Fairy dragged her moorings and drifted into several of the other ships of the flotilla. She was scheduled to a commission on the Mediterranean station in December 1901, but owing to defects her place was taken by Flying Fish. She underwent repairs to re-tube her boilers in 1902.