HMS Hindostan (variously Hindustan) was a 50-gun two-decker

Two-decker

A two-decker is a sail warship which carried her guns on two fully armed decks. Usually additional guns were carried on the upper works , but this was not a continuous battery, so were not counted....

 fourth rate of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was originally a teak

Teak

Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...

-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

HMS Howe (1805)

HMS Howe was originally a teak-built Indian mercantile vessel, the Kaikusroo, which Admiral Edward Pellew bought in 1805 to serve as a 40-gun frigate. In 1806 the Admiralty fitted her out as a 24-gun storeship and renamed her HMS Dromedary...

 brought Governor Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie

Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

 to replace Governor William Bligh

William Bligh

Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMAV Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift in the Bounty's launch by the mutineers...

 after the Rum Rebellion

Rum Rebellion

The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia's history. The Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, was deposed by the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston, working closely with John Macarthur, on 26 January 1808, 20...

.

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

East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 and renamed her Hindostan. An earlier Hindostan

HMS Hindostan (1795)

HMS Hindostan was a 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was originally the East Indiaman Hindostan, and was bought by the Admiralty in 1795...

 had just been lost in April in a fire at sea, with almost no loss of life.

Naval Service

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. There, on 21 April 1806, together with , she fought an inconclusive action against Canonnière

French frigate Minerve (1794)

The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured twice by the British and recaptured once by the French. She therefore served under four names:*Minerve, 1794–1795*HMS Minerve, 1795–1803*Canonnière, 1803–1810...

. Tremendous carried the brunt of the action but suffered no casualties. The French lost seven men killed and 25 wounded.

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

John Pasco

Rear-Admiral John Pasco served in the Royal Navy between 1784 and 1853, eventually rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. He acted as signal officer on board HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and notably advised on the wording of Nelson's famous signal "England expects that every man will do his...

. On 29 March 1809, Hindostan and Dromedary

HMS Howe (1805)

HMS Howe was originally a teak-built Indian mercantile vessel, the Kaikusroo, which Admiral Edward Pellew bought in 1805 to serve as a 40-gun frigate. In 1806 the Admiralty fitted her out as a 24-gun storeship and renamed her HMS Dromedary...

 recaptured the Gustavus, of Charlestown.

Pasco sailed Hindostan to New South Wales on 3 May 1809. Hindostan and Dromedary

HMS Howe (1805)

HMS Howe was originally a teak-built Indian mercantile vessel, the Kaikusroo, which Admiral Edward Pellew bought in 1805 to serve as a 40-gun frigate. In 1806 the Admiralty fitted her out as a 24-gun storeship and renamed her HMS Dromedary...

 brought with them Governor Lachlan Macquarie

Lachlan Macquarie

Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...

 and the 1st Battalion of Macquarie's own regiment, the 73rd Regiment of Foot

73rd Regiment of Foot

The 73rd Regiment of Foot also known as MacLeod's Highlanders after its founder John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod, was an infantry regiment of the British Army.- History :- First raising :...

. 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

New South Wales Corps

The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. The regiment, led by Major Francis Grose, consisted of three companies...

. 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

New South Wales Corps

The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia. The regiment, led by Major Francis Grose, consisted of three companies...

) and Governor Bligh and his family.

Late career and fate

Hindostan was converted to a storeship in 1811 under Duncan Weir. Hindostan shared with , , , and in the American droits for Phoenix, Margaret, Allegany and Tyger, captured on 8 August 1812.

Hindostan was in the Mediterranean in 1815, and then reverted to being a storeship in Woolwhich. On 22 September 1819 she was renamed Dolphin.

She was hulked at Woolwich March 1824 as a prison ship

Prison ship

A prison ship, historically sometimes called a prison hulk, is a vessel used as a prison, often to hold convicts awaiting transportation to penal colonies. This practice was popular with the British government in the 18th and 19th centuries....

. She was renamed Justitia in 1831. She was finally sold on 24 October 1855.