The great drawback to Lome as a port is the heavy surf which breaks
almost incessantly on the low sandy beach, as indeed it does all
along the West African coast. Different methods of minimising the
inconvenience caused by this hindrance have been adopted at different
places. At Accra they have built a breakwater, which has cost a small
fortune, and is not, I hear, a great success. At Lome they have gone
the other way to work, and have erected a pier, or bridge, right out
into the sea, a third of a mile long, and connected with a massive
wharf, or quay, at the seaward end. This simplifies greatly the problem
of landing, although it has its drawbacks. One is that there are now
no surf boats there, or very few at all events, and the natives, I am
told, are forgetting how to handle them, even if any were available.
So when, some years back, the bridge which connects the wharf with the
shore was destroyed by a tidal wave, supposed to be due to some great
submarine volcanic upheaval, Lome was almost entirely isolated from
the outside world for a while. However, with commendable energy, the
authorities there soon set to work to rebuild their bridge; but because
they could not build it over the old foundations, it now takes a curved
course, which gives it a somewhat curious, lopsided appearance.