STEAMING OUT TO SEA, EXE ESTUARY, 1842.

 "The St. George's Company having determined to afford their friends a holiday, last Saturday was fixed on for the day.  The steamer left Topsham at a quarter past nine, having a goodly company on board.

"The morning was lovely;  a gentle breeze rippled the soft bosom of the beautiful Exe - expanded by high-water to a most glorious lake, and tempered the severe heat of the day.

"No river in England surpasses the Exe in its single reach at high-water, from Topsham to its embouchure.  In passing down you have the appearance of a glorious lake with Exeter and the hills behind for its head;  the Cathedral rising proudly above the city - venerable by time, and a thousand goodly associations - As we are on a holiday trip we keep to the bright side of the prospect.

"Turning your gaze to either bank of the river, you have on the one side Powderham Castle with its verdant park, and umbrageous foliage.  The castle presents no aspect so baronial as that which you catch in various openings from the river.  Above it rises Mamhead, with its overhanging woods,  and its proud specimen of classic architecture, in which the particular beauties of the Tudor style have been developed with an undefiled taste, and an exhaustless treasury.

"Leaving its varied beauty, and passing from the heights of Dawlish, we have on the other side of the river the charming Lympstone, with the elegant seat of Sir Trayton Drake, crouching like a beautiful sea bird at the margins of the waters; thence we pass on to Exmouth , from which may be seen, nestlng beneath the heights of Woodbury hill, the picturesque place of our excellent representative, Mr. Divett.

"The steamer at length is passing over the bar, a secret which is indicated by the pallid faces of those who have not sea-going stomachs.  Many citizens are now qualmish, and various specifics are resorted to, all of a conservative tendency, with a view of quieting the constitution, keeping it on its present basis and enabling the inner man to hold its own.  Some resort to a dry biscuit - others fly to brandy - porter is with some a specific.

"'Oh Steward!'   'You'd better go to lee-ward ma'am'.

"As we are walking the waters for pleasure, let us turn from this scene." 

*

I suspect this piece was written by a cub reporter.   Ah well, we all have to learn!

The St George's Company was a serious shipping company that, in Exeter, had an office in the Cathedral Yard. 

This jolly day-party went out to sea in the steamship 'Zephyr' and the continuation of her voyage westward can be read in the pages of The Western Times of 18th June 1842.

There are no surprises here.  These days the splendid distant views of the cathedral are more or less everywhere obscured, although the views of it from corners along Cowick Street are still impressive.  Mr Divett's, Exeter's longest serving(?) M.P.'s, 'seat', Bystock Court, is no longer a 'view' but Powderham  Castle and Nutwell Court, (the seat of Sir Trayton Drake) are still impressive and Lympstone, from the river, despite the intrusive macmansions, is still charming.  Dry-biscuit, brandy and porter have given way to Kwells.  The mouth of the river is no longer its embouchure , an improvement surely, but the Exe when the tide is up is still second to none in its glory.