HMS Buffalo (1813)

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Career (UK)
1936 model of the Buffalo
Name:	HMS Buffalo
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Bonner & Horsburgh at Calcutta
Launched:	4 January 1813 as the Hindostan
Acquired:	22 October 1813 by Royal Navy
Fate:	Wrecked on 28 July 1840 by a storm while anchored off Mercury Bay loaded with Kauri spars.
General characteristics
Displacement:	589 tons (534.3 tonne)
Length:	120 ft (37 m)
Beam:	33 ft 10 in (10.3 m)
Draught:	15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	Original 3 officers and 55 crew Changed 9 officers and 88 crew
Armament:	1813-1833 16 x 24-pdr (10.9 kg) carronades 2 x 9-pdr (4.1 kg) short guns 1833-1840 6 x 18-pdr (8.2kg) carronades 2 x 6-pdr (2.7 kg) long guns

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Buffalo.

The ship Hindostan, later to become His Majesty's Storeship Buffalo was built of teak by Bonner and Horsburgh in 1813 at Calcutta. As a merchantman chosen to carry grain rice. She was selected by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, along with the Servern, a 550 tons ship (renamed to H.M.S. Camel) to be purchased into the British Royal Navy. On the 13 October 1813, after the 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). The Naval Board renamed the ship to the H.M.S. Buffalo and designated as a sixth-rate naval storeship.

With the loss of the British trade monopoly over the East India Company, timber storages and the emergence of steam powered vessels, the Buffalo was to become a ship of many uses and refits. These includes timber carrier, quarantine ship, transport and colonisation ship. It was a very significant ship in maritime history for South Australia while aiding the British expansion into New Zealand, New South Wales, Tasmania and Upper Canada. Just as astonishing is that only three deaths were ever recorded on the Buffalo considering the medical practices of that period and volumes of passengers it transported.