HMS ''Buffalo'' was a
storeship
Combat stores ships, or storeships, were originally a designation given to ships in the Age of Sail and immediately afterward that navies used to stow supplies and other goods for naval purposes. Today, the United States Navy and the Royal Nav ...
under construction as the merchant vessel ''Fremantle'' when the
Royal Navy purchased her on the stocks.
She was launched in 1797, and sold in 1817.
Career
In December 1797
William Raven
William Raven (1756–1814) was an English master mariner, naval officer and merchant. He commanded the whaler and sealing vessel ''Britannia'' and the naval store ship in Australian and New Zealand waters from 1792 until 1799. While in command ...
was appointed commander for a voyage from England to
New South Wales. Between 1792 and 1797 he had visited New South Wales and sailed between Australia and the Cape, Bengal, and Java as captain of the merchant ship
''Britannia''.
''Buffalo'' arrived at Port Jackson on 25 April 1799, having brought cattle from the Cape of Good Hope. She left for the Cape on 13 September 1799. She returned on 15 April 1800 with more cattle from the Cape.
[''Australian Town and Country Journal'', 31 January 1891, p.16.]
/ref>
On 21 October 1800, she sailed for England under the command of William Kent. (Earlier, in 1795) he had brought out to the colony and commanded her there for some years.)
''Buffalo'' left Port Jackson carrying Captain John Hunter, the former governor of New South Wales, Eliza Kent
Eliza Kent (1760 – 29 January 1810) was a British traveller and writer. It is thought that Eliza was the first European woman to have official duties in Australia as "First Lady" to her husband's uncle who was the second Governor of New South ...
who had been his First Lady and William and Eliza's three children.St Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
she escorted a small convoy of vessels from the East Indies, one of which was carrying Colonel Robert Brooke, the former governor of St Helena.
Under Kent ''Buffalo'' sailed from England to return to Australia, arriving with stores on 16 October 1802. She left on 21 April 1803, bound for Bengal. Kent and ''Buffalo'' returned from Bengal with cattle, arriving on 12 June 1804,[ or 13 June.
In 1803/4 they were in ]New Caledonia
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, anthem = ""
, image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of New Caledonia
, map_caption = Location of New Caledonia
, mapsize = 290px
, subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...
[ and in 1804 ''Buffalo'' was involved in establishing the settlement at George Town, Tasmania by William Paterson. Eliza Kent's journeys on board the ''Buffalo'' was later reported in a British magazine.][
In 1805 she was commanded by ]John Oxley
John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley (1784 – 25 May 1828)
was an explorer and surveyor of Australia in the early period of British colonisation. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and is perhaps best known for his two exp ...
. On 10 February 1807 ''Buffalo'' left Port Jackson for England.[
On 26 October 1807, Tsar Alexander I of Russia declared war on Great Britain. The official news did not arrive there until 2 December, at which time the British declared an embargo on all Russian vessels in British ports. ''Buffalo'' was one of some 70 vessels that shared in the proceeds of the seizure of the 44-gun Russian frigate ''Speshnoy'' (''Speshnyy''), and the Russian storeship ''Wilhelmina'' (or ''Vilghemina'') then in Portsmouth harbour. The Russian vessels were carrying the payroll for Vice-Admiral ]Dmitry Senyavin
Dmitry Nikolayevich Senyavin or Seniavin (russian: Дми́трий Никола́евич Сеня́вин; – ) was a Russian admiral during the Napoleonic Wars.
Service under Ushakov
Senyavin belonged to a notable noble family of sea ...
’s squadron in the Mediterranean.
Fate
''Buffalo'' was hulked
A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment ...
in 1814. The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" first offered the "Buffalo sloop, of 463 tons", lying at Cowes, for sale on 3 April 1817.
See also
*John Lewin
John William Lewin (1770 – 27 August 1819) was an English-born artist active in Australia from 1800. The first professional artist of the colony of New South Wales, he illustrated the earliest volumes of Australian natural history. Many of his ...
, who intended to sail to Sydney on ''Buffalo'' in 1798 but missed the departure although his wife was aboard.
* Garnham Blaxcell, who was serving as acting purser on 16 October 1802 when ''Buffalo'' arrived in Sydney.
* Charles Robbins, who served on ''Buffalo'' as a midshipman in 1802
Notes
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo (1797)
1797 ships
Ships built in Deptford
Storeships of the Royal Navy
1788–1850 ships of Australia
Maritime history of Australia