H.M.S. Jupiter leaving Cape Town bound for India with the new Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland, aboard, 21st December 1835

H.M.S. Jupiter was a unique 50-gun two-decker designed by Sir William Rule on the reduced lines of the captured Danish prize Christian VII. Built at Portsmouth, she was launched in November 1813, placed in Ordinary in 1814 and only completed for sea in March 1815, by which time the French Wars were effectively over. Reclassed as a troopship in 1819, she was refitted to carry the new Governor-General out to India in 1822 before returning to duty as a trooper until 1835 when she was refitted again to carry another incoming Governor-General out to India, this time Lord Auckland. After this second refit, which cost £2,679, she was recommissioned under Captain Frederick Grey and left England in November 1835 for the round trip, returning home in September 1836. Paid off as a troopship for the last time in 1843, she was then relegated to a coal hulk and finally broken up in 1870.

George Eden, first Earl of Auckland (1784-1849) was a distinguished statesman and Member of Parliament who was both President of the Board of Trade and Master of the [Royal] Mint between 1830 and 1834. Appointed Governor-General of India in 1835, he arrived to take up his post early in 1836 and enjoyed a successful tenure during which he was created Earl of Auckland after the satisfactory end to the first Afghan War in 1839. Recalled home in November 1841, he became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1846, and was also President of the Royal Asiatic Society and the senate of University College, London.