How were seaside piers constructed?

Question

I'm wondering how the pier is standing in the water because i would have thought that the posts that the pier stands on would need to be set in concrete yet some of these piers were built in the late 1800's plus its hard to imagine them being able to have the facilities to do this back then and was there even concrete back then?

Answer 1

steel cylindrical hollow piles driven in by steam press,then concreate is poured in ,the dutch are ace at this game,

Answer 2

Well the Brooklyn Bridge was constructed from 1870-1883. It had

to be embedded in bedrock so I imagine they had the technology to build a pier in the 1800's as well.  

Answer 3

They pile drived steel poles into the sea bed, then they filled them up with concrete. Worked from barges when tides and weather allowed.

Answer 4

I'm not sure that they are set in concrete, or just driven using a steam pile driver. But if they did need concrete, they certainly had the technology: the foundations of the (first) Tay Bridge for example were made inside caissons, from which the water was pumped so that men could work.