Lapwing was one of four fast-sailing packet ships that Thomas Bronsdon of Deptford built for the British East India Company (EIC).

Captain Henry Watts sailed from Plymouth on 16 November 1743 bound for Bengal and Benkulen.

Homeward bound, she reached St Helena on 5 April and Galway on 17 September before arriving at The Downs on 20 December.

[2] Captain Francis Cheyne (or Chene) sailed Lapwing to Holland and returned between 18 March 1745 and September 1746.

Homeward bound, she was at Ingeli, a point on the west side of the Hooghli Estuary, on 30 December.