Hindostan (East Indiaman)
Hindostan was an East Indiaman of the East India Company. She was a large vessel of 1,248 tons, built in 1796 to replace a previous Hindostan that the Royal Navy had bought and turned into a Fourth Rate ship of the line. Her owner was Robert Williams, M.P., who had been the owner of the previous Hindostan.
.jpg)
She made three complete voyages.[1]
- Under Captain William Mackintosh she sailed to Bombay and China, leaving 18 March 1797 and returning 22 October 1798. Mackintosh had made five earlier voyages for the East India Company, including three as captain of Indiamen. In 1792-94 he was captain of a different Hindostan when he took George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney on Britain's first embasy to China.
- Under Captain George Millett she sailed to China, leaving 18 June 1799 and returning 30 September 1800.
- Again under Captain George Millet she sailed to the Coast and China, leaving 31 March 1801 and returning 13 June 1802. This was his eighth voyage for the East India Company, and his fifth as a captain.
Wreck
Hondostan's fourth voyage was for the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, the Coast and China. She carried mostly woolens and 45,000 ounces of silver bullion in 13 cases for private ventures, not the East India Company. For this voyage her captain was Edward Balston. Hindostan left London just after the turn of the new year. Unfortunately she was caught in a severe gale just off Margate on 11 January 1803 and wrecked on the Wedge Sand. She had about 120 persons aboard, of whom about 25 lost their lives. On the morning of the 12th, a Margate hoy, the Lord Nelson and the Liberty pilot sloop saved 80.
The Hindostan's cargo was valued ₤100,000. Eleven of the 13 cases of bullion were salvaged. Also 100 bales of wool were salvaged. The Company abandoned the wreck on 24 January.[2]
References
- ↑ Charles Hardy and Horatio Charles Hardy (1811) A register of ships, employed in the service of the Honorable the United East India Company, from the year 1760 to 1810 : with an appendix, containing a variety of particulars, and useful information interesting to those concerned with East India commerce. (London: Black, Parry, and Kingsbury).
- ↑ Grocott, Terrence (1997) Shipwrecks of the revolutionary & Napoleonic eras (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books), p.139.
