3542

A photograph looking east along Mearns' Quay. Multiple trawlers with designations from Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth can be seen along the quayside. The fishing boat Trustful (BF369) can be seen in the middle distance. The Scottish Built Ships website states that this boat was built in 1906 by Carnegie & Matthew of Peterhead. The boat's first owner was George Mair Snr & Sons, Portknockie. By 1920 it was registered in Peterhead, for a new owner, with the number PD366. This gives a probable date for this photograph of between 1906 and 1920. The ornate granite building on the quayside in the distance is one of two Valve House Siphon Outlets of Aberdeen Corporation Sewage Works located on either side of the River Dee. These valve houses were vital pieces of infrastructure in the Girdleness Outfall Sewerage Works. This engineering scheme, completed in 1907, involved tunnelling under the river to provide a safer outlet for much of a growing Aberdeen's sewage. An article on the ceremonial opening of the system featured in the Aberdeen Daily Journal of 14th November 1907 on page 7. The complete sewer was 3 1/2 miles long and a total £137,000 had been spent on it at the time of opening. Due to Aberdeen's growing population, which was approaching 200,000 at the time, a more systematic method was needed to take the city's sewage to the North Sea, as opposed to simply using nearby rivers and burns. The scheme, which appears to have been primarily designed by burgh surveyor William Dyack, took sewage to the North Sea at Girdleness and aimed to prevent harm to both residents of the city and visitors to the Bay of Nigg. As the two harbour side valve houses continue to stand, the final drainage works building and the outflow pipe can still be found today to the east of Girdleness Lighthouse.