Ships Cover for the Archer class torpedo cruisers HMS Archer (1885), HMS Brisk (1886), HMS Cossack (1886), HMS Mohawk (1886), HMS Porpoise (1886), HMS Racoon (1887), HMS Serpent (1887) and HMS Tartar (1886). The documentation mainly comprises the design proposal papers, statements of dimensions and weights, authorized armament and ammunition allowance, stability calculations, schemes of complement, details of fittings (both proposed and accepted), steam trial reports for Archer and turning trial data for the class as a whole, filed correspondence between the Admiralty and J & G Thomson of Glasgow [builders of the whole class save for Racoon and Serpent), details of steel masts to be fitted, tables of costs, crew complement, a brief statement of Tartar's coal capacity, a collation of reports on the class as a whole in their early operational years, documents relating to alterations carried out (including major work done on Tartar in 1888 and Mohawk in 1901), and two reports of vessel performance in adverse weather conditions; Archer in a typhoon off the coast of Japan in 1891 and Mohawk in a gale off South Africa in 1892. The latter report is of some interest in that a Lieutenant Philpotts [later captain of HMS Warspite at Jutland in 1916] is commended for his actions and ship-handling. The earliest documents are dated December 1884 when the orders had been placed for the ships, and the last December 1904 - the last year of service before five of the class were put up for sale [Serpent had been wrecked in 1890].