HMS Buffalo (1813)
| 250px 1936 model of the Buffalo | |
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Buffalo |
| Builder: | James Bonner & James Horsburgh, Calcutta |
| Launched: | 4 January 1813 as the Hindostan |
| Acquired: | 22 October 1813 by Royal Navy |
| Refit: |
4 January 1814, as a storeship 19 April 1833, as a convict ship 1836, as an emigrant ship |
| Fate: | Wrecked in Mercury Bay, 28 July 1840. |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | sixth-rate storeship |
| Tons burthen: | 589 bm [2] |
| Length: |
120 ft (37 m) (o/a) 98 ft 8 in (30.1 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 33 ft 10 in (10.31 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 15 ft 8 in (4.78 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: |
Original: 3 officers and 55 crew |
| Armament: |
As built: [3] 16 × 24 pdr (11 kg) carronades, 2 × 9 pdr (4.1 kg) short guns |
| Notes: | Water buffalo figurehead |
HMS Buffalo was a storeship of the Royal Navy, originally built in India as the merchant vessel Hindustan. She later served as a convict ship and as transport for immigrants to Australia before being wrecked in 1840.
Launch and purchase
The Hindostan was built of teak by James Bonner and James Horsburgh, of Firth, in 1813 at Calcutta.[1][2] Upon the ship's launch, the Calcutta Gazette reported her as a merchantman built to carry grain rice. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty purchased her and the similar Servern, a 550 long tons (560 t) ship (renamed HMS Camel) for the Royal Navy. Horsburgh part-financed the building of both Severn and Hindostan in the partnership of Horsburgh & Colman.
On 13 October 1813, after a six month maiden voyage, the Hindostan arrived in Blackwall, London. Nine days later a £18,000 purchasing deal was brokered with David Webster (representing the builders).[1] The Navy Board renamed the ship HMS Buffalo, designated her a sixth rate, and employed her as a storeship.
The Buffalo became a ship of many uses and refits. She was fitted as a timber carrier to carry spars from New Zealand in 1831, followed by being fitted as a convict ship in January 1833. Buffalo sailed to Australia in May 1833 carrying 180 female convicts. She was an important ship in the maritime history of South Australia, serving at times as a quarantine, transport or colonisation ship, while also aiding the British expansion into New Zealand, New South Wales, Tasmania and Upper Canada.
The Buffalo sailed from Portsmouth on 23 July 1836, arriving in South Australian waters in December of that year, carrying 176 colonists, including Captain John Hindmarsh, who was to become the first Governor of the new colony of South Australia following the proclamation of that colony on 28 December 1836. As a tribute, a replica of the Buffalo is moored in the Patawalonga River at Glenelg, a suburb of Adelaide.
Only three deaths were ever recorded on the Buffalo,[4] a remarkable record considering the medical practices of that period and volumes of passengers she transported.
Fate
She was fitted as a timber carrier again in 1839. She was wrecked on 28 July 1840 by a storm while anchored in Mercury Bay off Whitianga and loaded with Kauri spars. Buffalo parted from her cables during a gale and was driven ashore to become a total loss.
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sexton 1984, p. 11-12
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Stringer 1980, p. 6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Sexton 1984, p. 27
- ↑ Sexton 1984, p. 10
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Sexton, Robert (1984), H.M.S. Buffalo: An Account of His Majesty's Ship Buffalo, Naval Storeship and Timber Carrier, Quarantine Ship, Transport, and Emigrant Ship Bringing the First Governor to South Australia, Magill: Australasian Maritime Historical Society, ISBN 0-9591317-0-1
- Stringer, Myra (1980), Family history of John William and Susanna Adams, Adelaide: M. Stringer, ISBN 0959436308
- Stringer, Myra (1986), Adams Family History 1774–1986, Adelaide: M. Stringer, ISBN 0959436316
- Winfield, Rif (2007), British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, Seaforth, ISBN 1861762461
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- Royal Navy troop ships
- Royal Navy storeships
- History of South Australia
- Immigration to Australia
- Convict ships to Australia
- Shipwrecks of New Zealand
- Maritime incidents in 1840
- British ships built in India
- 1810s ships
- Ships of the British East India Company
