For her homeward voyage she crossed the Second Bar on 12 May, reaching the Cape on 9 September, and St Helena, in the South Atlantic, on 17 November.

For her homeward voyage she crossed the Second Bar on 1 March, reaching St Helena on 10 July, and arriving at Gravesend on 16 September.

[2] On 14 February 1804, a fleet of Indiamen under the command of Commodore Nathaniel Dance, which included Ganges, intimidated, drove off, and chased a powerful French naval squadron.

Although the French force was much stronger than the British convoy, Dance's aggressive tactics persuaded Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois to retire after only a brief exchange of shot.

On 28 February, the British ships of the line HMS Sceptre and Albion joined the fleet in the Strait of Malacca.

Lloyd's Patriotic Fund and other national and mercantile institutions made a series of awards of ceremonial swords, silver plate, and monetary gifts to individual officers.

[2] On 7 August 1805, HMS Blenheim, Captain Austin Bissell and Rear-Admiral Thomas Troubridge, was escorting a fleet of East Indiamen consisting of Castle Eden, Cumberland, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Exeter, Ganges, Hope, and Preston.

Troubridge reprimanded the captains of Cumberland and Preston for having acted too boldly in exchanging fire with the French.

[2] She became leaky after having been at Penang and on 6 June the frigate Sir Edward Hughes escorted her to Bombay,[7] which she reached on 2 July.

The East Indiaman Earl St Vincent, which was in company, managed to get off all 203 or 209 persons on board Ganges, including a number of soldiers from the 77th Regiment of Foot, and there was no loss of life.