HMS Hindostan ( 1795 ) HMS " Hindostan " ( later variously " Hindustan " ) was a 56 - gun fourth - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy . She was originally the East Indiaman " Hindostan " , launched in 1789 , that the Admiralty bought in 1795 . She is known for two events , her voyage to China between 1792 and 1794 when she carried Lord George Macartney on a special embassy to China , and her loss in a fire at sea in 1804 . East India Company . She was launched by William Barnard of Deptford on 3 November 1789 as " Hindostan " . From 17 January 1790 to 29 June 1791 , under Captain William Mackintosh , she made one round trip for the East India Company to China . The British Government then chartered her to take Lord Macartney to China in an unsuccessful attempt to open diplomatic and commercial relations with the Chinese empire . The voyage lasted from 1 October 1792 to 30 September 1794 . The " Hindostan " traveled in the company of the 64 - gun HMS " Lion " under Captain Sir Erasmus Gower , and the brig " Jackall " . Part of the remuneration of the captain of an Indiaman was the right to carry up to some 50 tons of cargo for his own account . Mackintosh managed to conduct private trade in Guangzhou from the voyage amounting to £7 , 480 . The total private trade on " Hindostan " amounted to £9 , 633 . While " Hindostan " was at Whampoa in December there were several other East Indiamen there that on their return to Britain the Admiralty too would purchase : " Ceres " , " Earl of Abergavenny " , and " Warley " , and " Royal Charlotte " . Naval service . The Admiralty bought " Hindostan " on 9 March 1795 . Barnard fitted her for service with the Royal Navy at a cost of £11 , 062 . In April , Captain Robert Moorsom commissioned her for service in the North Sea . Captain Thomas Bertie took command in November and sailed for Jamaica on 24 February 1796 . In the West Indies she participated in the operations against San Domingo . Captain Francis Collingswood took command in October 1796 . She returned to England and was paid off in August 1797 . She served for a year until June 1798 as a guardship at Plymouth . In December Captain Joshua Mulock commissioned her as a 28 - gun storeship for Cork . At this time she gave up her lower deck guns . " Hindostan " sailed for the Mediterranean on 18 January 1800 . On 20 May , she and " Pearl " captured the Ragusan ship " Veloce " and her cargo of bale goods and cochineal while " Veloce " was sailing from Marseilles to Petuan on the Barbary coast . Mustapha Bashaw , Dey of Algiers and named Algerian owners of the ship claimed the vessel and cargo . After the Vice - Admiralty court in Minorca had ruled the vessel and its cargo a prize the case went to appeal in England . In September 1802 the crews of " Hindostan " and " Pearl " shared ₤12 , 000 , representing an advance payment of prize money . " Hindostan " refitted at Deptford between November 1800 and January 1801 ( for £10 , 292 ) before sailing for the Cape of Good Hope in March . By 6 May 1801 she was a storeship again , and under Captain Samuel Mottley . In December Lieutenant William Fothergill took command . Still , " Hindostan " shared with , and in the capture of the " Union " on 27 May 1803 . Then in 1804 Captain John Le Gros replaced Fothergill . On 12 February 1804 Le Gros sailed " Hindostan " for the Mediterranean to carry supplies to Horatio Nelson , who was at the time Commander - in - chief of the Mediterranean fleet . Loss . Arriving at Gibraltar in March , " Hindostan " sailed from there to join Nelson off Toulon in company with the frigate , but became separated from " Phoebe " during a gale in the Gulf of Lyons . On the morning of 2 April , while about 30 miles to the south - east of Cape St . Sebastian , thick smoke was seen coming from the fore and main hatchways . Attempts were made to find the source of the fire but no flames could be discovered . Orders were given to throw the ship ' s gunpowder overboard and an unsuccessful attempt was made to flood the magazine . Captain Le Gros had the boats prepared and hoisted out in case it became necessary to abandon ship . He also had the marines parade with loaded muskets to prevent anyone from fleeing in panic . The crew either threw overboard or dampened whatever gunpowder they could reach . After struggling to fight the fire for about 7 hours , but when they were still from shore , flames suddenly erupted from the hatchways . The crew was able to run " Hindostan " aground in Rosas Bay , about a mile from the Fort of Ampurius and the Church of Saint Peter . By the time she beached , about from the shore , she was completely aflame . Local vessels were initially afraid to approach too closely , but using the ship ' s own boats and an improvised raft , the ship ' s passengers and crew were saved shortly before the ship blew up . Spanish launches ferried survivors from the ship ' s boats to the shore . The order of rescue was women and children , ships crew , officers , and the captain . The evacuation was orderly and no more than three men were lost of her 259 people on board , including passengers . Aftermath . On 19 April a court martial on board " Royal Sovereign " honourably acquitted Captain Le Gros , his officers , and the ship ' s company . The board praised Le Gros for his actions in saving so many of " Hindostan " s crew and passengers . Nelson himself remarked that the preservation of the crew seemed little short of a miracle . The board recommended " Hindostan ' s " acting lieutenant , Thomas Banks , to Nelson for promotion for his conduct during the wreck ; his promotion to lieutenant was confirmed on 23 June 1804 . The cause of the fire was much debated . It was suggested that the fire may have been due to spontaneous combustion of hemp cordage or sails being stored when not completely dry . Nelson later wrote of the incident , " the fire must have originated from medicine chests breaking down or from wet getting down which causes things to heat . I have never read such a journal of exertions in my whole life . "