wemburywaves

On this day in Wembury — 24 April 1923

The Western Morning News carried a small but evocative advertisement that spoke of simpler coastal pleasures. The Three Towns Steamship Company announced an afternoon sailing from Plymouth’s Promenade Pier to Yealm, leaving at three o’clock on Wednesday, April 25, “weather and circumstances permitting.” The vessel Alexandra would return by six in the evening, with tickets priced at two shillings and sixpence return.

For the people of Wembury and the South Hams, these regular excursions were part of the rhythm of life between the wars. The Yealm run was one of the most popular of the company’s pleasure cruises, taking passengers out past Mount Batten and the Mewstone before gliding into the calm estuary waters between Wembury Point and Noss Mayo. On fine spring days, the boat was often filled with families, courting couples and day trippers from Plymouth enjoying a few hours away from the smoke of the docks.

These short trips by paddle steamer helped sustain the link between Plymouth and its coastal villages long before car tourism took hold. Each sailing offered a glimpse of the Wembury cliffs, the church tower above the bay, and the promise of tea, sand and sea air — the beginning of the modern seaside leisure that would soon define Devon’s coast.
(Western Morning News, 24 April 1923)