HMS Buffalo was a storeship of the Royal Navy, originally built and launched at Sulkea, opposite Calcutta, in 1813 as the merchant vessel Hindostan. The Admiralty purchased her that year after she arrived in Britain. She later transported convicts and immigrants to Australia, before being wrecked in 1840. Launch and purchase Hindostan was built of teak by James Bonner and James Horsburgh, of Firth, in 1813 at Sulkea, on the Hoogly near Calcutta. The Calcutta Gazette, reporting on her launch, described her as a merchantman built to carry grain rice. Her hull was pierced at the upper deck to be able to carry 20 guns, and she measured about 578 tons burthen. In August 1813, after a six-month maiden voyage, Hindostan arrived in the East India Dock, London to discharge and was offered for sale. She had left Bengal on 18 February, passed the Point de Galle on 13 March, stopped at St Helena on 9 June, and arrived at The Downs on 10 August. 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 her HMS Buffalo, designated her a sixth rate, and employed her as a storeship. The Navy Board also purchased the similar Severn (550 tons burthen), that it renamed . Horsburgh had 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 12 May 1833 and arrived on 5 October 1833. She carried 180 female convicts, one of whom died on the journey. Buffalo 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