HMS Hindostan (1804)
Third Rate 74-gun ship-of-the-line HMS Tremendous (in the foreground) and HMS Hindostan (firing in the background) against the French frigate Canonnière, 21 April 1806.
| |
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Admiral Rainier |
Owner | Hudson, Bacon & Co.[4] |
Builder | Hudson, Bacon & Co., Calcutta |
Launched | 1798,[1][2] or 1799[3][4] |
Fate | Sold to the Royal Navy in 1804 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Hindostan |
Owner | Royal Navy |
Acquired | 30 May 1804 |
Renamed |
|
Fate | Sold out of service 1855 |
General characteristics [3] | |
Class and type |
|
Tons burthen | 511,[1] 88654⁄94,[3] or 88688⁄94[4] (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 37 ft (11.3 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement |
|
Armament |
|
HMS Hindostan (variously Hindustan or Hindoostan) was a 50-gun
Merchantman
Hudson, Bacon & Co. built Admiral Rainier in Calcutta for their own account and launched her in 1799. The EIC immediately chartered her for a voyage from
Admiral Rainier was admitted to the Registry of Great Britain on 5 January 1801.[6] Lay received a
Lay sailed Admiral Rainier to England for a second time, again under charter to the EIC, leaving Calcutta on 1 January 1803. She passed Kedgeree on 1 February, reached St Helena on 16 July, and arrived at Gravesend on 27 September.[1]
On 30 May 1804 the Admiralty purchased her and renamed her Hindostan. An earlier Hindostan had just been lost in April in a fire at sea.
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.[3] There, together with Tremendous, she fought the inconclusive Action of 21 April 1806 against Canonnière. Tremendous carried the brunt of the action but suffered no casualties. The French lost seven men killed and 25 wounded.[7]
Captain Bendall Littehalles recommissioned Hindostan in December 1806.[3] 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.[3]
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.[3] In April 1808 her captain was Commander Fitzowen Skinner and she was with a squadron operating off Lisbon.[3]
Australia
In November 1808 Hindostan was recommissioned as a troopship under Commander John Pasco.[3] On 29 March 1809, Hindostan and Dromedary recaptured Gustavus, of Charlestown.[a]
Pasco sailed Hindostan 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.[9] They took with them a contingent of the 102nd Regiment of Foot (New South Wales Corps), as well as Governor Bligh and his family.
Late career and fate
Hindostan was converted to a
Hindostan was in the Mediterranean in 1815, and then reverted to being a storeship in Woolwhich. On 22 September 1819 she was renamed Dolphin.[3]
Dolphin was hulked at Woolwich in March 1824 to serve as a prison ship. On 16 October 1829, she sprang a leak and sank at Chatham, Kent, with the loss of three lives,[11] but she was refloated, repaired, and returned to service. She was renamed Justitia in 1831, the Royal Navy having sold an earlier Justitia in 1830. Justitia was finally sold on 24 October 1855.[3]
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d British Library: Admiral Rainier.
- ^ Phipps (1840), p. 97.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Winfield (2008), p. 113.
- ^ a b c Hackman (2001), p. 220.
- ^ a b c "Letter of Marque, p.48 - accessed 25 July 2017" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ House (1814), p.86.
- ^ Naval history of Great Britain Archived 13 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine, by William James
- ^ "No. 16349". The London Gazette. 10 March 1810. p. 358.
- ^ "Arrival of Vessels at Port Jackson, and their Departure". Australian Town and Country Journal, Saturday 3 January 1891, p.16. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
- ^ "No. 17136". The London Gazette. 14 May 1816. p. 911.
- ^ "SINKING OF THE DOLPHIN HULK". The Standard. No. 756. 18 October 1829.
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Hackman, Rowan (2001). Ships of the East India Company. Gravesend, Kent: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-96-7.
- House of Commons, Parliament, Great Britain (1814), Minutes of the Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee on Petitions Relating to East-India-Built Shipping. (H.M. Stationery Office)
- Phipps, John (1840). A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ... Scott.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
External links
- "HMS Hindustan". Naval Database. pbenyon.plus.com.