Ships Cover for the repair ship HMS Assistance (1900). The documentation mainly comprises statements of requirements for a new repair vessel/depot ship and justifications to the Treasury for purchasing and converting a merchant ship, correspondence with the building firm [Raylton Dixon], cost estimates, details of the ship's equipment and fittings, stability claculations, statements of dimensions and estimates of weights, schemes of complement, steam trial reports, and details of alterations. The earliest papers date from July 1899 when it was first proposed to acquire a new vessel as a repair ship, and the latest from March 1937 when she was sold for break up.