Steamboats first made scheduled stops in Belfast in 1824, carrying passengers and freight along the coast. The Eastern Steam Ship Company of Boston built the pictured wharf in 1888. The "Great White Flyer" steamer Belfast carried passengers overnight to and from Boston through Penobscot Bay. Built in Bath, Maine, in 1909, she was 320 feet long and had a steel hull, triple screws, and a speed of 17 knots. Carrie Greenlaw, winner of a "Prettiest Girl in Belfast" contest, christened the ship with a bottle of champagne at the launching. The ship was an impressive sight and sound as her whistle blew while she rounded the bend into the harbor. The SS Belfast left the wharf for the last time in December 1935, and her whistle is on display at the Belfast Museum.