Patna was a sloop built at Java in 1778 that served the British East India Company (EIC) as a pilot boat of the Bengal Pilot Service.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Watson, who owned Nonsuch, prevailed upon the EIC, which was sponsoring the venture, to provide guns for Patna.

Richardson was to sail directly to China, avoiding the Malacca and Sunda Straits, passing east of Java, and then proceeding past the Philippines to China.

Instead, Richardson sailed via the Malacca Straits, spent a month around Java, where he sold numerous chests of opium on private account.

[3] In 1793 the EIC converted Patna to a buoy vessel.