HMS Assistance was an Arctic discovery barque of the Royal Navy, and the sixth vessel to carry the name.

[6] Baboo first appeared in Lloyd's Register in 1839 with Forrester, master, T. Kincaid, owner, Greenock, homeport, and trade Liverpool–South Australia.

On 14 May 1847, Baboo ran aground and was severely damaged in the River Thames at Limehouse, consequent to an argument as to whether she should be towed by tugs Lion or Newcastle.

[12][13][14] She joined Horatio Thomas Austin's 1850 attempt to find Sir John Franklin's ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition.

In the summer of 1850, Assistance anchored at Cape York in western Greenland, and took on an Inuit guide by the name of Qalaherriaq.

Despite extensive search, the expedition failed to find conclusive evidence of the fate of Franklin and his men, and returned to Britain in 1851.