Cygnet

Cygnet

The barque Cygnet anchored in Nepean Bay on Kangaroo Island on 11 September 1836, nearly four weeks after she was expected. The Cygnet had set sail for South Australia on 24 March 1836 – a full six weeks before the Surveyor-General, Colonel William Light, who had arrived on the Rapid on 17 August.

Cygnet had been chartered in 1836 by the South Australian Colonization Commission to carry emigrants, including many of the surveying staff for the new Colony of South Australia, including deputy surveyor George Strickland Kingston and assistant surveyor B. T. Finniss. The delay in the arrival of this ship deprived the Surveyor-General of most of his staff and made a general exploration of the colony in the timeframe set by the Colonial Commissioners impossible.

There were two reasons for the delay. Although larger than the Rapid, it turned out that the Cygnet was slower under sail. It was further delayed due to a heated quarrel between Kingston and the Captain which resulted in threats of mutiny and an unscheduled stop at Rio de Janeiro where heavy drinking while ashore delayed departure even more.

Light had dismissed Kangaroo Island as a site for the new colony and in early November he sent the survey party to Holdfast Bay to work in that area while he went to investigate Port Lincoln. Confirming his decision to establish the settlement on the eastern shore of Gulf St Vincent, Light retuned to Kangaroo Island and proceeded to move personnel and store from there to Holdfast Bay.

Unsuited to this type of work the Cygnet, with Kingston and Captain Lipson, the Harbour Master, was posted to Port Lincoln to await the Governor’s ship and advise him that the new capital would be near Holdfast Bay. Both ships then proceeded to Holdfast Bay together.

The longest river on Kangaroo Island and the related locality of Cygnet River are both named after this ship. The river empties into Nepean Bay.

• Anthea Taylor

The 'Cygnet' was originally rigged as a ship, but converted to a barque before its voyage to South Australia.

Compared to ‘Rapid’ (the other survey ship) with a length of 23.3m & beam 6.7m & carrying capacity of 162tons, ‘Cygnet’ was slightly larger at 27.7m in length & with a beam of 7.4m & a carrying capacity of 238 tons.  The more well-known of SA's 'first fleet' of colonial settlement ships, HMS Buffalo was a much larger vessel at 37m/127’ length & beam of 10.2m/33'.

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One of three of the first expedition ships to complete earlier voyages to Australia, the sails of the ‘Cygnet’ were spotted on the horizon approaching Nepean Bay , Kangaroo Island on 9 September 1836. Battling a strong south easterly wind, it took the 239-ton barque another 48 hours to work her way into Nepean Bay, finally dropping anchor on 11 September after a voyage of nearly 5 ½ months.

'Cygnet' was built in India in 1827, primarily of teak. Her first voyage was from Calcutta to Singapore & Jakarta, then to Madras & Bombay before sailing on to London in 1829 where she was sold & re-registered to prominent Ratcliffe shipowner, Englishman Thomas Ward. 

With Captain John Rolls engaged as master, 'Cygnet' carried emigrants to the Swan River colony in Western Australia,  arriving January 1833. 

Capt. Rolls was still master for 'Cygnet’s' second voyage to Australia, arriving at Hobart on 25 December 1834, then departing for London 27 January 1835. Here, under Capt. Rolls she was chartered by the South Australian colonisation commissioners to sail for South Australia to carry emigrants & most of the survey team needed to survey the colony.

As with most of the first ships to SA, records of passengers & crew  aboard vary, with the number thought to be somewhere from 84 to 99. 

There was cause for celebration in adding to that number, however, when Mary Neale, wife of one of the Assistant Surveyors, gave birth to her 5th child, as 'Cygnet' was working her way into Nepean Bay. The first baby born to SA emigrants, Nepean Kingston Neale was born on 10 September 1836, before the ship’s arrival at Kangaroo Island.

The survey team, led by Deputy-Surveyor George Strickland Kingston, included Assistant Surveyors B T Finniss, William Neale, Richard Symonds, Alfred Hardy & John Cannan.  Also on board were Captain Thomas Lipson, Harbour Master; Dr Edward Wright; & Thomas Gilbert, the Colonisation Commissioners' Colonial Storekeeper.

Conditions on board 'Cygnet' were very difficult. With a carrying capacity 238 tons (1 ½ x that of Rapid at 162 tons), the vessel was crammed with stores, equipment & luggage; the married couple quarters were separated from the single men's berths by canvas screens & with insufficient tables for passengers, many ate their meals sitting on their bunks. Food was inadequate & water soon undrinkable.

Conditions were so bad that Cygnet called into Rio de Janeiro & stayed for over two weeks to re-supply. So despite leaving England on 24 March 1836, 6 weeks before Light’s ship Rapid, Cygnet was not ready & waiting for Light on his arrival at Nepean Bay in August 1836. At first disappointed, Light’s frustration grew as he waited at Nepean Bay for over two weeks for the rest of his survey team & supplies.

In addition to the physical discomfort on board, there was significant tension between Kingston & Finniss. Finniss, an army-trained surveyor, had applied for the Deputy-Surveyor position but found Kingston, a privately trained architect & civil engineer, appointed ahead of him. Finniss saw this as a case of ‘jobs for the boys' &  inevitably there was tension between the two. Kingston also found himself in conflict with Capt. John Rolls.

According to the Cygnet’s charter, on arrival at KI, the crew only had seven days to discharge their cargo. As the site for the new capital still hadn’t been decided, most stores were merely piled on the beach at Nepean Bay. Finniss used his military training to supervise setting up a camp on the banks of the Cygnet river. Tent pegs didn’t not hold in the sandy soil, so men from Cygnet put up brush shelters for protection from cold winds & the frequent rainstorms. Frustrated at the lack of progress, Finniss took long walks across the island searching in vain for good arable land.

Col. Light, on his way down the Gulf to Rapid Bay on 11 October, finally received word that 'Cygnet' had arrived at Nepean Bay. He continued on to Rapid Bay, unloaded some stores, then sent his brig to KI to bring the Assistant Surveyors to Rapid Bay to start work. Kingston stayed at Nepean Bay to assist with transhipment of the surveyor’s stores & equipment from KI to Rapid Bay.

Kingston finally joined Light & the survey party at Rapid Bay on 23 October, 6 weeks after arriving in the colony. On 29 October, Light wrote to Capt. Rolls asking him to take Capt. Lipson & his family on board the Cygnet, then proceed to Port Lincoln, where the Harbour Master was to do a preliminary assessment of its suitability as a possible capital.

Returning from Port Lincoln on 9 November, Cygnet was spotted on the horizon by Light who was delighted to report that three English vessels, the Africaine, Rapid & Cygnet, rode out a gale together at Holdfast Bay. On 18 November Light’s crew helped the Cygnet’s crew in their effort to raise the Cygnet’s long boat that had capsized in a squall while coming back to the ship two days earlier. The Cygnet was still at Holdfast Bay on the morning of 20 November when Light sailed up the Gulf again, but later that day she left for Port Lincoln, again with Lipson on board, to wait for the Buffalo & the new Governor.

The Cygnet was at anchor in Spalding Cove on 24 December when the Buffalo, under Capt. John Hindmarsh, worked her way in to join her.  Capt. Lipson boarded the Buffalo, then returned to the Cygnet with Capt. Hindmarsh, before going on shore for awhile.  Despite orders to stay at Port Lincoln to redirect any ships calling in there, Hindmarsh over-rode them to order Lipson & the Cygnet to escort him to Holdfast Bay.  

Departing 27 December, Cygnet led the Buffalo past Kangaroo Island, close enough to see a fire & exchange gun salutes without landing. They arrived at Holdfast Bay on the morning of 28 December 1836.

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Later Voyages & Fate of 'Cygnet'

On 19th March 1837 Cygnet was reported arriving at Hobart to load stores, departing for the return trip to South Australia 12th April.  A report in the SA Gazette & Colonial Register 3 June expressed concern there was no news of Cygnet since leaving Hobart.  Relief came with a report that Cygnet  had arrived at Encounter Bay 8 July, having battled 13 weeks of continuous storms on the return trip.

In November 1837 'Cygnet', still under the command of Captain Rolls, left Launceston headed for London.  For the next 10 years or so 'Cygnet' continued to journey between London and South Australia, via Hobart and/or Launceston.  Under the command of Captain W.L. McLeod, 'Cygnet' arrived at Port Adelaide from Hobart on 4 February 1847. A December 1853 report has her off Cape Howe, near the Vic/NSW border.  

During the late 1850s 'Cygnet' was making regular voyages between Europe & Central America, as well as Bordeaux in France.  Newspaper articles from March 1859 report that Cygnet was lost on the ‘Mosquito Shore’ - also known as the ‘Mosquito Coast’, comprising modern-day Honduras & Guatemala.  Her master at this time was Captain William Dobson. It was reported that he & his crew all survived.  

Unfortunately, no further details about Captain John Rolls have come to light.

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• Research by Anthea Taylor. Published on the Pioneers Association Facebook page 11-12 Sept 2022.