HMS Hindostan (1804)
| File:Canonniere.jpg Fight of HMS Tremendous (in the foreground) and HMS Hindostan against the French frigate La Cannonière, 21 April 1806, by Pierre-Julien Gilbert | |
| Career (UK) | .svg){kind=small} |
|---|---|
| Name: | Admiral Rainier |
| Owner: | East India Company |
| Builder: | Hudson, Bacon & Co., Calcutta |
| Launched: | 1799 |
| Fate: | Sold to the Royal Navy in 1804 |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | HMS Hindostan |
| Owner: | Royal Navy |
| Acquired: | 30 May 1804 |
| Renamed: |
Renamed Dolphin, 1819 Renamed Justitia 1831 |
| Fate: | Sold out of service 1855 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: |
Fourth rate Storeship or troopship from 1807 |
| Tons burthen: | 1,249 long tons (1,269 t) |
| Length: | 160 feet (49 m) |
| Beam: | 42 feet (13 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament: |
As built: 52 guns
From 1811: 22 guns
|
HMS Hindostan (variously Hindustan) was a 50-gun two-decker fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally a teak-built East Indiaman named Admiral Rainier that the Royal Navy brought into service in May 1804. Perhaps her best known voyage was her trip to Australia in 1809 when she and Dromedary brought Governor Lachlan Macquarie to replace Governor William Bligh after the Rum Rebellion.
East India Company
Hudson, Bacon & Co. built Admiral Rainier in Calcutta and launched her in 1799. She originally carried 52 guns. In 1800, she made one round trip to England under Captain William Lay, who was also her captain on her second, incomplete trip. She arrived in England for a second time in September 1803. On 30 May 1804 the Admiralty purchased her from the East India Company and renamed her Hindostan. An earlier Hindostan had just been lost in April in a fire at sea, with almost no loss of life.
Captain Mark Robinson commissioned her in July, and then Captain Alexander Fraser took command in August. He sailed her for the East Indies in early 1805. On 21 April 1806, together with Tremendous, she fought an inconclusive action against Canonnière.[1]
Captain Bendall Littehalles recommissioned Hindostan in December 1806. A year later she was repaired at Woolwich in January 1807. Then in February Captain Thomas Bowen took command. On 28 June she sailed as a convoy escort to the Mediterranean, returning towards the end of the year. On 11 November, the Admiralty ordered her to be converted to a storeship and her guns were reduced from 54 to 22, primarily by the removal of the guns on her lower deck. Commander Lewis Hole took command in December. In April 1808 her captain was Commander Fitzowen Skinner and she was with a squadron operating off Lisbon.
Australia
In November 1808 she was recommissioned as a troopship under Commander John Pasco. He sailed her to New South Wales on 3 May 1809. Hindostan and Dromedary brought with them Governor Lachlan Macquarie and the 1st Battalion of Macquarie's own regiment, the 73rd Regiment of Foot. Macquarie's first task was to restore orderly, lawful government and discipline in the colony following the Rum Rebellion against Governor William Bligh. The 73rd Foot was there to replace the New South Wales Corps. The vessels arrived on 28 December. Hindostan and Dromedary departed from Sydney on 12 May 1810 with a contingent of the 102nd Regiment of Foot (New South Wales Corps) and Governor Bligh and his family.
Fate
Hindostan was converted to a storeship in 1811 under Duncan Weir. She was in the Mediterranean in 1815, and then reverted to being a storeship in Woolwhich.
In 1819 she was renamed Dolphin. She was hulked at Woolwich March 1824 as a prison ship. She was renamed Justitia in 1831. She was finally sold on 24 October 1855.
References
- ↑ Naval history of Great Britain, by William James
- 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.
- "HMS Hindustan". Naval Database. pbenyon.plus.com. http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/H/02289.html.
- Winfield, Rif (2008) British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.
