HMS Buffalo (1813)

HMS Buffalo was a storeship of the Royal Navy, originally built Calcutta, India as the merchant vessel Hindostan and launched in 1813. She later served as a convict ship and as transport for immigrants to Australia before being wrecked in 1840.

Launch and purchase
The Hindostan was built of teak by James Bonner and James Horsburgh, of Firth, in 1813 at Calcutta. Upon the ship's launch, the Calcutta Gazette reported her as a merchantman built to carry grain rice.

On 13 October 1813, after a six month maiden voyage, the Hindostan arrived in Blackwall, London. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty purchased her on 22 October. David Webster (representing the builders), brokered the sale price of £18,000 for Hindostan. The Navy Board renamed the ship HMS Buffalo, designated her a sixth rate, and employed her as a storeship.

The Admiralty also purchased the similar Severn, a 550 tons burthen (bm) ship (renamed HMS Camel (1814)) for the Royal Navy. Horsburgh part-financed the building of both Severn and Hindostan in the partnership of Horsburgh & Colman.

Royal Navy service
Buffalo was commissioned in November 1813 under Mr. Richard Anderson, Master, and became a ship of many uses and refits. Anderson was still her master between 1814 and 1815 when she was stationed at the Army Depot at Bermuda. Then in January 1816 Mr. W. Hudson became master.

Buffalo was at Deptford in 1822, 1827, and 1831. She was fitted as a timber carrier to carry spars from New Zealand in 1831. However, she apparently was in the Quarantine Service at Stangate in 1832.

Then in January 1833 she was fitted as a convict ship, and F.W.R. Sadler took command. Buffalo sailed to Australia in May 1833 carrying 180 female convicts. She was an important ship in the maritime history of South Australia, serving at times as a quarantine, transport or colonisation ship, while also aiding the British expansion into New Zealand, New South Wales, Tasmania and Upper Canada.

Buffalo was paid-off and recommissioned in January 1835. Then James Wood took command in July 1836. Buffalo sailed from Portsmouth on 23 July 1836, arriving in South Australian waters in December of that year, carrying 176 colonists, including Captain John Hindmarsh, who was to become the first Governor of the new colony of South Australia following the proclamation of that colony on 28 December 1836. As a tribute, a replica of the Buffalo is moored in the Patawalonga River at Glenelg, a suburb of Adelaide.

Only three deaths were ever recorded on the Buffalo, a remarkable record considering the medical practices of that period and volumes of passengers she transported.

S. Hindmarsh may have been captain in 1837 but James Wood returned to command and would remain her captain until her loss. She was fitted as a timber carrier again in 1839.

Fate
She was wrecked on 28 July 1840 by a storm while anchored in Mercury Bay off Whitianga and loaded with Kauri spars. Buffalo parted from her cables during a gale. As her crew could not save her, Wood steered her to go ashore on the beach. All the crew except two were saved, but she herself was a total loss.

Post-script
The wreck site was located by a team of maritime archaeologists and volunteer divers led by the South Australian Government’s State Heritage Branch in April 1986. The wreck of HMS Buffalo is still visible today at Buffalo Bay off Whitianga. The wreck is only visible from the air at low tide and in clear water conditions. The GPS co-ordinates for the location of the wreck are -36.82672°N, 175.70556°W.