It is impossible to be sure of who was on board the Cygnet. Being a privately-owned vessel, there is no record of the crew beyond the name of the master and the engagement of Hugh Quin as second mate at Rio de Janeiro, where all but one of the original crew left the ship after argument with the captain. The ship was chartered by the Colonization Commissioners to take out many of the survey staff and their labourers as well as general emigrants. While the cabin passengers were all named in the Commissioners’ annual report, the identity of the others must be found from the ‘Register of Emigrant Labourers Applying for a Free Passage to South Australia’, which lists those people considering life in the new colony and generally indicates on which ship those deciding to proceed were embarked. However uncertainty can arise from clerical errors and last minute changes, and mistakes have crept into lists of passengers compiled over the years as a result of faulty memory or confusion. A number of passengers and emigrants are mentioned in the diary of B.T. Finniss, which also records the presence of Mrs Paris on board.

Officers:

Master: John Rolls
Hugh Quin (2nd mate from Rio)

Passengers:

John Cannan
Boyle Travers Finniss
Mrs Finniss
Thomas Gilbert
Alfred Hardy
George Strickland Kingston
Thomas Lipson
Mrs Lipson & child
Thomas Lipson
Eliza Lipson
Mary Lipson
John Morphett
William Henry Neale
Mrs Neale
Thomas Powys
Richard Gilbert Symonds
Dr Edward Wright
Mrs Wright

Emigrants:

James Adams
Mrs Adams & child
William Adams
John Afford
John Avery
Thomas Bell
Mrs Bell & 2 children
James Brennan
Robert Bristow
Mrs Bristow & 2 children
James Brown
Mrs Brown & 2 children
Samuel Chapman
Mrs Chapman & child
John Corney
William Covey
Joseph Finch
George Friend
John Goodman
John Grant
William Green
Mrs Green & child
George Heath
James Hoare
Mrs Hoare & 2 children
Berry Lipson
Emma Lipson
John Lockett
James Marshall
Mrs Marshall & 1 child
Henry Osborn
Stephen Paris
Mrs Paris
Charles Parrington
Edmund Parsons
Thomas Rogers
Sarah Sanders
Basil Sladden
Isaac Sladden
Smythley Sladden
James Stone
James Stubbington
Robert George Thomas
George Trollop
William Williams
Solomon Willman
Charles Wright
Robert Wright
Thomas Wright

Information compiled by Mr Bob Sexton