SS Assaye was built by Caird & Comapny, Greenock in 1899, for Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, as an 'intermediate' passenger service, but employed almost exclusively as a troopship. She was 7,396 groos tonnes, 4,484 net. She was launched 7th October 1899 and completed 17th December 1899. Advertised for a commercial voyage to Calcutta in January 1900, she was however taken up on completion as a Boer War transport, a notable passenger was General Cronje whom she took to St Helena as a prisoner of war, and for the Boxer Rising in China. This ship took the Essex Yeomanry from Southhampton to Durban in 1902.
This image shows her in 1899 off Tilbury and is courtesy of Royal Museums Greenwich
Charles Orr's Memoirs Volume 3
