HMS Hindostan (1804)

Engagement between the British 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
United Kingdom
Name:	Admiral Rainier
Owner:	Hudson, Bacon & Co.
Builder:	Hudson, Bacon & Co., Calcutta
Launched:	1798, or 1799
Fate:	Sold to the Royal Navy in 1804
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Hindostan
Owner:	Royal Navy
Acquired:	30 May 1804
Renamed:	Renamed Dolphin, 1819 Renamed Justitia 1831
Fate:	Sold out of service 1855
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fourth rate Storeship or troopship from 1807
Tons burthen:	511, 886 54⁄94, or 886 88⁄94 (Builder's Old Measurement)
Length:	158 ft 6 in (48.31 m) (overall)) 121 ft 9 in (37.11 m) (keel)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	Merchantman: 80 men 4th Rate: 294 men Storeship: 141 men
Armament:	Merchantman: 22 × 6&12-pounder guns 4th Rate: 26 × 18-pounder guns (Lower Deck ) + 26 × 24-pounder carronades (Upper Deck ) From 1811: 20 × 24-pounder carronades + 2 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Hindostan (variously Hindustan or Hindoostan) was a 50-gun two-decker fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally a teak-built East Indiaman named Admiral Rainier launched at Calcutta in 1799 that the Royal Navy brought into service in May 1804. Before the Royal Navy purchased her, Admiral Rainier made two trips to England for the British British East India Company (EIC), as an "extra ship", i.e., under charter. Perhaps her best known voyage was her trip to Australia in 1809 when she and Dromedary brought Governor Lachlan Macquarie to replace Governor William Bligh after the Rum Rebellion. In later years she became a store ship, and in 1819 was renamed Dolphin. She was hulked in 1824 to serve as a prison ship, and renamed Justitia in 1831. She was finally sold in 1855.

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 Calcutta to England. Captain William Lay left Calcutta on 28 December 1799, reached St Helena on 15 June 1800 and Falmouth on 2 September, and arrived at Deptford on 5 October.

Lay received a Letter of Marque on 9 January 1801. He then sailed her back to India, apparently not under contract with the EIC.

Lay sailed Admiral Rainier to England for a second time, 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.

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, with almost no loss of life.