Hindostan was an East Indiaman of 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...

. She was a large vessel of 1,248 tons, built in 1796 to replace a previous 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...

 that 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...

 had bought and turned into a Fourth Rate

Fourth-rate

In the British Royal Navy, a fourth rate was, during the first half of the 18th century, a ship of the line mounting from 46 up to 60 guns. While the number of guns stayed subsequently in the same range up until 1817, after 1756 the ships of 50 guns and below were considered too weak to stand in...

 ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

. Her owner was Robert Williams, M.P., who had been the owner of the previous Hindostan.

She made three complete voyages.

• Under Captain William Mackintosh she sailed to Bombay and China, leaving 18 March 1797 and returning 22 October 1798. Mackintosh had made five earlier voyages for the East India Company, including three as captain of Indiamen. In 1792-94 he was captain of a different 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...
  
   when he took George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney
  George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney
  George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB was an Irish-born British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's success in the Seven Years War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled...
  
   on Britain's first embassy to China.
• Under Captain George Millett she sailed to China, leaving 18 June 1799 and returning 30 September 1800.
• Again under Captain George Millet she sailed to the Coast and China, leaving 31 March 1801 and returning 13 June 1802. This was his eighth voyage for the East India Company, and his fifth as a captain.

Wreck

Hondostans fourth voyage was for the Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, the Coast and China. She carried mostly woolens and 45,000 ounces of silver bullion in 13 cases for private ventures, not the East India Company. For this voyage her captain was Edward Balston. Hindostan left London just after the turn of the new year. Unfortunately she was caught in a severe gale just off Margate

Margate

-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....

 on 11 January 1803 and wrecked on the Wedge Sand. She had about 120 persons aboard, of whom about 25 lost their lives. On the morning of the 12th, a Margate hoy

Hoy (boat)

A hoy was a small sloop-rigged coasting ship or a heavy barge used for freight, usually displacing about 60 tons. The word derives from the Middle Dutch hoey. In 1495, one of the Paston Letters included the phrase, An hoye of Dorderycht , in such a way as to indicate that such contact was then...

, the Lord Nelson, and the Liberty pilot sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

saved 80.
The Hindostans cargo was valued at ₤100,000. Eleven of the 13 cases of bullion were salvaged. Also 100 bales of wool were salvaged. The Company abandoned the wreck on 24 January.