David Buchan

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David Buchan (1780 – sometime after 8 December 1838) was a Scottish naval officer and Arctic explorer.

In 1806, Buchan was appointed as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and from about 1808 to 1817 operated in and around Newfoundland. He was the leader of an unsuccessful 1810 expedition into the interior of Newfoundland, attempting to make contact with the dwindling native Beothuk population.

In 1818, Buchan was sent on an expedition to the North Pole. The Dorothea and Trent, commanded by Buchan and Lieutenant John Franklin, sailed to Spitsbergen, but failed to advance much further north due to the ice.

Buchan returned to Newfoundland in 1819, and attempted to return the Beothuk woman Demasduwit to her people; she died of tuberculosis before he was able to make any additional contact with the Beothuk. Buchan later ordered additional efforts to return the Beothuk woman Shanawdithit, Demasduwit's niece, to her family.

David Buchan was promoted to captain (inactive) in the Royal Navy in 1823, and was appointed High Sheriff of Newfoundland from 1825 to 1835. He was apparently lost at sea with the vessel Upton Castle en route from Calcutta to England in December 1838.