As covered in the previous post, for much of the mid-19th century, there was a regular steamer service between Largo and The Chain Pier at Newhaven, near Edinburgh. This postcard shows the 650 ft pier before its destruction in a storm in October 1898. The actual deck was only about 4 ft wide - narrow in comparison to its foundations. Once the heyday of steamer services had passed, the pier had a gymnasium built at the end and was used as a base for swimming.
One passenger in August 1852 was so appalled by his experience on a steamer service from Largo to Newhaven Chain Pier that he wrote to the Caledonian Mercury that "the deck was nearly covered with fish, not pleasant travelling companions" which at least one hundred Newhaven fishwives were waiting to claim. He went on...
"No sooner was the plank laid down by which the passengers should have landed, than they were borne down by a tumultuous rush of these women....Several children were thrown down and one much hurt....The cursing and fighting that followed, when they had thus captured the steam-boat, beggars all description. To have got ladies on shore from the boat would have been impossible."
"No sooner was the plank laid down by which the passengers should have landed, than they were borne down by a tumultuous rush of these women....Several children were thrown down and one much hurt....The cursing and fighting that followed, when they had thus captured the steam-boat, beggars all description. To have got ladies on shore from the boat would have been impossible."
This 1838 notice advertises the "splendid and powerful" Ben Ledi steamer. However, in the summer of 1846 this vessel would be wrecked off Kincraig Point. The Courier of 27 August 1846 updated that...
"Since the wreck of the Ben Ledi at Kincraig Point, much inconvenience has been felt along this part of the coast, from the want of steam conveyance to the other side of the Firth of Forth, especially as this is the season when many people have occasion to travel, and much disappointment is felt when any of the ordinary modes of communication is stopped. The inconvenience...was remedied last week, a small steamer having then begun to ply between Largo and the Chain Pier twice a day, which has proved very acceptable to those who have occasion to visit Edinburgh, especially as the coaches are so heavily laden that it is often impossible to procure a seat."
"Since the wreck of the Ben Ledi at Kincraig Point, much inconvenience has been felt along this part of the coast, from the want of steam conveyance to the other side of the Firth of Forth, especially as this is the season when many people have occasion to travel, and much disappointment is felt when any of the ordinary modes of communication is stopped. The inconvenience...was remedied last week, a small steamer having then begun to ply between Largo and the Chain Pier twice a day, which has proved very acceptable to those who have occasion to visit Edinburgh, especially as the coaches are so heavily laden that it is often impossible to procure a seat."
Just over a decade after the Ben Ledi accident, the railway finally reached Largo and the already declining steamer services were reduced further. Pleasure excursions by steamer remained and, from time to time, would call at Largo - more on that perhaps some other time.
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