BUFFALO HMS 1813

[aukepalmhof]

She was built as a cargo vessel by James Bonner & James Hornberg at Calcutta for the East India Company.
04 January 1813 launched under the name HINDOSTAN.
Tonnage 589 tons (bm), dim. 120 x 33.10 x 15.8ft.
Built of teak.
Armament 6 – 18 pdrs. Carronades and 2 – 6 pdrs. guns.

She sailed for her maiden voyage in February 1813 from Calcutta and arrived England October 1813.
01 November 1813 bought by the Royal Navy and renamed HMS BUFFALO.
Armament: 16 – 24pdr carronades, 2 – (short) 9pdrs.
Crew 55.

November 1813 commissioned under command of Master Richard Anderson and used as a transport ship by the Royal Navy.
1814 till 1815 used as an army depot ship at Bermuda under Anderson’s command.
February 1816 under command of W.Hudson.
1822 until 1831 stationed at Deptford, England.
1832 In quarantine service at Stangate.
Sailed on 12 May 1833 from England with on board 187 female convicts, arrived Sydney 05 October.
10 November 1833 sailed from Sydney for New Zealand to load a cargo of kauri spars.
After completing of loading sailed for England via Cape Horn.
09 April 1835 her convict fitting plans returned to Somerset House.
July 1836 fitted out as an emigrant vessel.

Her first voyage as an emigrant vessel was under command of Capt. John Hindmarsh Governor elect of the new colony with on board 170 passengers from England to South Australia; she sailed from Spithead 11 July 1836, bringing Governor elect Hindmarsh with his family to South Australia to set up a colony there. Sailed via St Helena where she departed on 22 July.
Arrived Holdfast Bay 28 December 1836 (The town Adelaide was founded there.)
25 March 1837 sailed from Australia to New Zealand where she arrived on 06 April to load a cargo of kauri spars for England.
09 April helped to refloat the brig EMMA near Tasmania.

From England she sailed across the North Atlantic to Canada.
02 October 1839 sailed from Quebec with on board 143 male Canadian convicts, of which 83 landed at Hobart Town the rest went to Sydney, the BUFFALO arrived 12 February 1840 at Hobart.
19 February 1840 arrived Sydney.

05 April 1840 sailed from Sydney for New Zealand under command of Capt. James Wood and a crew of 93 men. Also on board was a detachment of the 80th Regiment, and Mrs Hobson and her family as passengers. William Hobson was at that time the first lieutenant-governor of New Zealand from 1839 to 1842, when he died in office.
16 April she arrived at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, where the troops and passengers disembarked and she commenced loading kauri spars.
After the Bay of Islands she sailed to Mercury Bay where she arrived the 22 July to complete her loading of kauri spars.

Sailed after completing of loading on 25 July from Mercury Bay, but because of bad weather was compelled to return the same day. On the 26 July a strong easterly gale commenced and increased to a full storm, and on the 28th the BUFFALO was driven ashore and became a total wreck.
Two of her crew drowned namely Charles Man and a boy John Carnie.

From time to time many relics of this old wreck have been found on Buffalo Beach named after the ship.
In March 1947 a pair of leg-irons was found. On May 1960 following a violent earthquake in Chile, a powerful tidal surges occurred on the East coast of the South and North Island of New Zealand.
As a result of these surges the remains of the BUFFALO were exposed for a time, and many residents from Whitianga managed to prise away pieces of teak and copper sheating, and one resident made an unsuccessful attempt to drag the keel on the beach with the aid of a bulldozer.

Australia 1986 33c sg1000, scott?

Source: http://www.users.on.net/proformat/buffpax.html New Zealand Shipwrecks by C.W.N. Ingram.
British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 by Rif Winfield.
Encyclopedia of Exploration Vol 2, 1800 - 1850 by Ray Howego, ISBN1-875567-39-9