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Cygnet

A London merchant ship sent out under Charles Swan to trade in the South Sea, forced by her own crew into buccaneering in 1684, of sixteen guns and a hundred and forty men in 1685, and sunk at Madagascar after her company had twice changed hands.

Launched2 October 1684, South SeaToc. 1690, St Augustin BayAlso writtenCygnet of London (William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, 1697)

William Dampier joined her in the South Sea in 1684 and left her in May 1688; in 1697 he printed her name as the Cygnet of London. She crossed the Pacific and ended off Madagascar.1

A trading voyage that failed

She came out to sell things. Dampier's company lay at the Isle of Plata until 2 October 1684, when Swan arrived there in her. The London merchants who fitted him out had sent him "on a design only to trade with the Spaniards or Indians, having a very considerable cargo". An editor of Dampier's voyages adds a commission from the Duke of York, a licence rather than a letter of marque, out of a later edition's apparatus and not out of the book.2,3

His men settled it otherwise. Near Nicoya they made him take in a company of privateers under Peter Harris, and the cargo had to go to make room for them. Swan got his goods up on deck and sold to any one who would buy on trust. The rest went over the side, silks, muslins and stockings excepted, and the iron was saved for ballast.4

On 2 November 1684 the ships came up with Payta, lay six leagues off all day and sent the canoes in at evening. They stayed before the town till the sixth day in hopes of a ransom. The captains demanded three hundred packs of flour, a weight of sugar, twenty five jars of wine and a thousand jars of water. Nothing came off. Swan then ordered the town to be fired. The burning is usually dated to the day they arrived; it came later than that.5

Sixteen guns and no tonnage

In the buccaneer fleet counted in the Bay of Panama in 1685 she carried sixteen guns and a hundred and forty men, all English. Her tonnage is nowhere. The nearest thing to a physical description of her is a piece of carpentry. In 1687, at an island west of Sebo, her new captain had the carpenters cut down her quarter deck to make her snug and the fitter for sailing, then heeled her and tallowed her bottom.6,7,8

The crossing

They left the American coast on 31 March 1686, out of Cape Corrientes, two sail in company: the ship, and a bark under Teat. A hundred men were aboard her, fifty aboard the bark.9

The crossing nearly finished her people. They raised Guam on 20 May after some fifty days at sea, with provision for three days more aboard. Dampier learned afterwards what had been arranged against that: when the victuals were gone the men had contrived to kill Captain Swan and eat him, and after him everyone who had promoted the voyage.10

On 18 July 1686 she came before the river of Mindanao, and the company stayed about six months. The residence is what broke her.11

They leave the captain

The crew took the ship out of the river without her captain on 14 January 1687. They left him ashore in the city of Mindanao, which is not what the retellings mean when they call it a marooning. The number left with him cannot be read: 34 in the printing, 36 wherever the story is repeated, and a bled character sitting across the digit. The same sentence counts six or eight who had run away and about sixteen already buried, most of them dead by poison.12

John Read, whom Swan had abused in his journal, was "now made captain in his room", with Teat master and Henry More quartermaster. Under them she went to Manila, Pulo Condore, Formosa, the Celebes, the coast of New Holland and the Nicobars across 1687 and 1688.13,14

At Nicobar, the water filled and the ship ready to sail, Dampier "desired Captain Read to set me ashore on this island". Read gave him leave, supposing no place was less frequented by ships. On 15 May 1688 Dampier left the island himself, eight men in a native canoe.15

Sunk in St Augustin Bay

The rest he had at Achin from Mr Morgan, once of her crew. Read filled his water, got rice and stood on for the Red Sea; near Ceylon they took a Portuguese ship richly laden. The westerly winds then beat them off, so they bore away for Madagascar and hired the company out to one of the petty princes of the island. A vessel came in from New York to buy slaves. Read and five or six others slipped aboard her, and Teat was made commander of the residue.16,17

She was failing under them. Consorting with Captain Knight towards the Red Sea, she proved leaky and sailed heavily, "much out of repair", and Knight grew weary of her company and gave her the slip in the night. Beaten back again, she bore away for Coromandel, where Teat and his own men went ashore to serve the Mogul. The strangers left aboard undertook to carry her home. The last news Dampier had of her came from Captain Knox: "she now lies sunk in St. Augustin Bay in Madagascar". Popular accounts say she rotted; what was said at the time was leaky, much out of repair, and sunk.18,19

Swan and his surgeon, going out in a small canoe to a Dutch ship in the road to beg a passage to Europe, were overset at the mouth of the river by men who had waited there on purpose. It was done by the General's order, Dampier was told, to get his gold. Later accounts tell it another way, chasing Swan down and spearing him at the Raja's order about 1690, but the story goes no further back than they do.20,21

Nothing of her has been reported found on any seabed, and no wreck anywhere has been identified as this ship. St Augustin Bay holds her because one sea captain told another she was there. The copy of the 1697 printing read here is an optical transcription in which one column of the page bleeds into the other, and several of its figures, the number of men left ashore with Swan and the weight of sugar demanded at Payta among them, want collating against a clean copy.22

What the evidence does not settle

Construction

  • Cygnet's tonnageConfirmed
  • Her dimensions, rig, builder and build date

Mindanao

  • How many men remained ashore with Swan and how Swan was killed

Final fate

  • Independent evidence for the sinking at St Augustin BayConfirmed

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. The ship is named in print as the Cygnet of London, commanded by Captain Charles Swan, and William Dampier sailed in her from 1684 until he was set ashore at Nicobar in May 1688. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapters VI to XVII
  2. Dampier's company lay at the Isle of Plata until 2 October 1684, when Swan arrived there in the Cygnet, fitted out by very eminent merchants of London on a design only to trade with the Spaniards or Indians, having a very considerable cargo. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter VI, page 137, under the running head 'Capt. Swan'
  3. Swan is reported, on the editorial apparatus of a later edition of Dampier rather than on the narrative itself, to have sailed under a commission from the Duke of York, afterwards James II, which was a licence and not a letter of marque against a named enemy. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Editorial apparatus: Editorial introduction and footnotes to A New Voyage Round the World (Argonaut Press edition)
  4. Swan's men forced him from trade to privateering by making him take in a company of privateers met near Nicoya under Peter Harris, and the trading cargo was got up on deck and sold on trust or thrown overboard, fine goods and the iron excepted, the iron being saved for ballast. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter VI, pages 137 to 138
  5. On 2 November 1684 the ships came up with Payta and lay about six leagues off shore all day before sending the canoes in at evening, stayed before the town till the sixth day in hopes of a ransom, demanded three hundred packs of flour, a weight of sugar the copy consulted does not render legibly, twenty five jars of wine and a thousand jars of water, got nothing, and Swan then ordered the town to be fired. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter VII, pages 154 and 159
  6. Dampier's list of the buccaneer fleet in the Bay of Panama in 1685 rates the Cygnet at sixteen guns and a hundred and forty men, all English. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter VIII, under the running head 'The Privateers Strength'
  7. The Cygnet's tonnage is not established: Dampier records none, and no contemporary document giving her burden was located for this record. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Documented absence: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), the whole of the Cygnet chapters
  8. In 1687, at an island west of Sebo, Captain Read had the carpenters cut down the ship's quarter deck to make her snug and the fitter for sailing, after which they heeled her, scrubbed her bottom and tallowed it. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XIV, page 379, under the running head 'Canes. Isle of Bats'
  9. The Cygnet sailed from Cape Corrientes on 31 March 1686 in company with a bark under Teat, a hundred men aboard the ship and fifty aboard the bark. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter X, page 280, the departure from Cape Corrientes for Guam
  10. The company raised Guam on 20 May 1686 after about fifty days at sea with provision for three days more aboard, and Dampier was afterwards informed that the men had contrived to kill Captain Swan and eat him when the victuals were gone, and after him all who had promoted the voyage. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter X, page 283, under the running head 'They arrive at Guam, one of the Ladrone Islands'
  11. The Cygnet arrived before the river of Mindanao on 18 July 1686 and the company resided there about six months. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XII, the arrival before the river of Mindanao
  12. On 14 January 1687 the crew seized the ship and sailed from the river of Mindanao, leaving Captain Swan ashore in the city with a body of men whose number cannot be read with confidence in the copy consulted, which prints 34 where the figure usually repeated is 36, besides six or eight who had run away and about sixteen already buried there, most of whom died by poison. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapters XIII and XIV, under the running heads 'They leave Captain Swan behind' and 'They depart from the River of Mindanao'
  13. John Read, whom Swan had railed against in his journal, was made captain in Swan's room, with Teat as master and Henry More as quartermaster. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XIV, page 379, under the running head 'Canes. Isle of Bats'
  14. Under Read the Cygnet cruised to Manila, Pulo Condore, Formosa, the Celebes, the coast of New Holland and the Nicobars in 1687 and 1688. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapters XIV to XVII
  15. At Nicobar, the water filled and the ship ready to sail, Dampier desired Captain Read to set him ashore on the island; Read gave leave because he supposed no place was less frequented by ships and would have refused had he thought Dampier could get away soon and give an account of him to the English or the Dutch; Dampier left the island himself on 15 May 1688, eight men in a native canoe. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapters XVII and XVIII, under the running head 'The Author leaves the Ship and goes ashore'
  16. Read filled his water, got rice and stood on for the Red Sea, took a richly laden Portuguese ship near Ceylon, and, the westerly winds bearing hard against him, bore away for Madagascar, where the company entered the service of one of the petty princes of the island against his neighbours. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XX, page 510, under the running head 'The Cygnet goes to Madagascar'
  17. At Madagascar a small vessel from New York came in to purchase slaves; Read and about five or six others stole away aboard her, and Teat was made commander of the residue. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XX, page 510, under the running head 'The Cygnet goes to Madagascar'
  18. Going towards the Red Sea in consort with Captain Knight, the Cygnet proved leaky and sailed heavily, being much out of repair, so that Knight grew weary of her company and gave her the slip in the night. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XX, page 510, under the running head 'The Cygnet goes to Madagascar'
  19. The ship was forced to bear away for Coromandel, where Teat and his own men went ashore to serve the Mogul, leaving strangers from another lost ship aboard who undertook to carry her for England; the last news Dampier had of her was from Captain Knox, who told him she then lay sunk in St. Augustin Bay in Madagascar. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XX, page 511, under the running head 'And lies sunk in St. Augustin's Bay'
  20. Dampier reports that Swan and his surgeon, going in a small canoe to a Dutch ship in the road at Mindanao to get a passage to Europe, were overset at the mouth of the river by men who had waited their coming purposely to do it, and that this was done by the General's order, as some thought, to get Swan's gold, which was seized at once, two other explanations being set down beside that one. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XVI, page 445, under the running head 'The Murder of C. Swan at Mindanao'
  21. Charles Swan is reported by later accounts to have died at Mindanao about 1690, killed at the Raja's order after being chased and speared as he made for a Dutch ship, a version that does not agree with the overturned canoe of Dampier's own report. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Literary retelling: A Mainsail Haul: The Voyage of the Cygnet
  22. No physical remains and no archaeological identification of the Cygnet have been located, and her wreck at St. Augustin Bay is known only from Dampier's documentary report. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Documented absence: A New Voyage Round the World (1697), chapter XX, page 511