The Union had not long to wait until she was joined by her sister ships, and all lay safely anchored near the landing place at the Upper Cove. We may well believe that the arrival of such a multitude produced a profound sensation among the dwellers at Portland Point, then a mere hamlet.
Three hundred years have passed since Champlain sailed up this same harbor and in honor of the day of its discovery, gave to St. John the name it still retains, but in all these centuries the most notable fleet that ever cast anchor in the port was the “Spring fleet” of 1783. The old iron guns of Fort Howe thundered out their salute as the score of vessels came up the harbor, the flag of Britain streaming from the masthead, and we know that Major Studholme gave the wearied exiles a hearty welcome. The old soldier had held his post secure, in spite of hostile 351 savages and lawless marauders, and he was now equally faithful in the discharge of his duty to his new comrades. He did his best to cheer their drooping spirits and as speedily as possible to settle them in habitations which they once more might call their own.
There is a quiet spot in the parish of Studholme, on the banks of the Kennebecasis, where the mortal remains of Gilfred Studholme lie. No headstone marks his grave.
Little preparation had been made by the Government of Nova Scotia for the reception of the Loyalists, and the season was cold and backward. Anxious as were the masters of the transports to return speedily to New York they were obliged to tarry some days. We learn from an old newspaper that the ship “Camel,” captain William Tinker, sailed from St. John on her return voyage, the 29th of May, in company with eight other transports, and that they left the new settlers “in good health and spirits.” Before the Loyalists could disembark, it was necessary to clear away the brushwood around the landing place and to erect tents and various kinds of shelter. The 18th of May saw them safely landed. The day was Sunday, and it is said the hapless exiles found consolation in a religious service held by the Rev. John Beardsley on the site of the present Market Square.
If Abraham’s fidelity to the Almighty caused him on his arrival in the land he was to inherit, to erect an altar, it was equally fitting that the first public act of the founders of the City of the Loyalists should be to render thanks for their preservation and safe arrival in the land of their adoption. The psalms for that 18th morning may have struck a responsive chord in many hearts. “Comfort us again now after the time that thou hast afflicted us, and for the years wherein we have seen adversity.” “Establish the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”
No friendly roof had yet been reared to shelter them from the storm. The wilderness had its unknown perils. Perhaps too the dread of some lurking savage may have filled the hearts of the helpless ones with a nameless fear. Still the message was—“He that dwelleth in the tabernacle of the most High shall lodge under the shadow of the Almighty.” “Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day.”
The Loyalists could not but feel relieved when they safely reached their destination. There were no light houses, or beacons, or fog horns to aid the navigator, and the charts were imperfect. The vessels were greatly over crowded and the accommodations not of the best. To add to the general discomfort, in some of the ships epidemics, such as measles, broke out. Yet, glad as they were to be again on shore, it was with heavy hearts they watched the departure of the fleet. The grandmother of the late Sir Leonard Tilley said to one of her descendants, “I climbed to the top of Chipman’s Hill and watched the sails disappearing in the distance, and such a feeling of loneliness came over me that, although I had not shed a tear through all the war, I sat down on the damp moss with my baby in my lap and cried.”
The days that followed the arrival of the Loyalists were busy days for Major Studholme and his assistant, Samuel Denny Street.[140] By their orders, boards, shingles, clapboards, bricks, etc., were distributed to those needing them. A large number of Studholme’s accounts in this connection are on file at Halifax. The first in which the name of Parr (Parrtown) occurs is the following:—
“Parr, on the River St. John, 31 August, 1783.
“Rec’d from Gilfred Studholme £5. 18. 10 1–2 for surveying 142,660 feet lumber for use of the Loyalists settled on the River St. John.
“JEREMIAH REGAN.”