Difference between East Indiaman and East Indian

East Indiaman—(hist.) a sailing ship of large tonnage engaged in the East India trade:

• I have taken my berth in an East Indiaman which sails on the twentieth of June.

East Indian—

1. smb. descended from the indigenous peoples of the Indian sub-continent:

• East Indians is the name given to the descendants of those who came to British Guyana from India.

2. a person of mixed European and Asian parentage:

• “Who is she?” “An East Indian, I should guess, by her dark complexion.”