The postcard image above (and detailed zoom) features the fishing boat Lily - registration KY 675. For a time, boats under 15 tons burden were marked with their registration numbers first, followed by the letter code of their port of registry, hence the marking 675 KY. Lily was owned by David Gillies. There was no record of Lily in 1901 but she did appear on the on the 1914 register as a 1 tonne vessel - double the weight of David Gillies's other older boat, Violet (KY 289). All the boats registered to Largo in 1914 are shown in the table below.
Given that there was only one Lily on the above list, we can only assume that this was the same vessel involved in the 13 January 1916 disaster where two Largo men lost their lives. As the report from the 20 January 1916 Leven Advertiser below tells us, Lily was "struck by a sudden squall, capsizing the craft, which immediately sank". On this occasion, Lily was crewed by Thomas Melville and Robert Guthrie. They were one of five crews out on the day working the trammel nets. Such nets (shown in the image further below) were anchored to the sea bed. The accident was seen from the shore and several men hastily "manned a yawl and raced to the rescue" (among them owner of Lily, David Gillies). However, nothing could be done to save the men. The body of Robert Guthrie was recovered, while that of Thomas Melville was not.
In a very sad coincidence, Thomas Melville was the son of David Melville who had died twenty years earlier in similar circumstances, fishing in Largo Bay. Below is the headstone they share (along with other family members) at Largo Cemetery. Note that the same wording is inscribed for both father and son: "accidentally drowned in Largo Bay". The loss of Melville and Guthrie was acutely felt both in Largo and the wider coastal district where they would sell their catches to local households. Robert Guthrie was a widower, aged 57 who left behind a family of three. He had close connections to Largo Baptist Church and in fact had just been appointed as church caretaker prior to the accident. Thomas Melville was 51 and left a wife and three children. At the time of his death, his eldest son James was in hospital having been seriously wounded while serving with the 9th Black Watch. James survived but Thomas Melville's younger brother Peter Melville was killed in action in 1917.
Four years after the 1916 Lily accident, another Lily was built in Largo by joiner Walter Horne. This vessel was registered ML 56 and was a 1.16 tons sail boat measuring 16.8 x 6.4 x 2.4 feet. Her original owner was Alexander Simpson, the son-in-law of James Melville (the brother of David Melville who drowned in 1896 and uncle to Thomas Melville who had drowned in 1916). Simpson was married to Margaret Melville. So the new Lily was named after the original. Alexander Simpson owned the Lily from 1920 until his death in 1928. The subsequent owner was J. Clunie (from 1929 to 1934) and then A. Clunie (from 1934 until 1938). The new Lily then went out of register.