At ten o'clock on a Monday morning in September, 1827, the Mayor of Exeter and the Chamber and a party of their friends, including many ladies, went down to the Quay and boarded a barge, accompanied by a band of music, and set out for the Turf where was the outlet of the New Canal. The occasion was the completion of the new extension to the Exeter Canal which was expected greatly to increase the prosperity of the city.
At the Turf was a fine schooner. The Dispatch, freshly arrived from Charente with a full cargo of brandy, Captain Barrett, was waiting to welcome the Mayor and his party aboard. They were also greeted by cannon fired from the ships at the canal mouth. On board Dispatch the party admired the beautiful prospect of land and sea which is there open to view and then the ship, followed by the barge and various coasters and lighters, processed along the canal to Exeter. Thousands of spectators crowded the banks to cheer.
It was eight o'clock and already dark when Dispatch reached Exeter Quay. The Mayor's party had lunched on deck beneath an awning at a table spread with an elegant cold collation and the guests had amused themselves with quadrilles.
As the ship approached the Quay, the occasional discharges of cannon ....continually shot their vivid flashes across the gloom,....the flame of numerous torches gleamed upon the water and displayed the dense mass of people which crowded either bank.
Source: The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 22nd September 1827.
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