Prior Issue (Archive)
From Tall Ships to Cruiseships
Now and Then

Our port is always welcoming. From tall ships to cruise ships Saint John has been a port of call to the world for over 400 years.

In September 1524, Estevan Gomez left Spain on the ship "La Anunciada". He arrived at the Gulf of St. Lawrence in February, 1525.

Although records of voyages have never been found, it is inevitable that many navigators from around the world came up the Bay of Fundy and entered the harbour and continued up through the falls into the St. John River. The first European who left a record of this area was Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese seaman. He was sent here in 1524 by Charles V of Spain, to chart the eastern coast of North America. Gomez named the St. John River, Rio de la Buelta, River of the Return.

The next recorded European voyage to the river was on June 24, 1604. Four hundred years ago, on St. Jean de Baptiste Day, the French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed up the Bay of Fundy into the mouth of what was shortly thereafter named the St. John River. Champlain's visit is the earliest written record of the harbour's history. Shortly after, a fur trading post was established here by the early French settlers.

Through wars and treaties between the French and English, ownership of Acadia changed hands and in the middle of the eighteenth century, a fur trading company from Boston was established on the site of the earlier French trading post of Charles de La Tour.

However the area remained sparsely settled until after the American Revolution ended. In the late 1700's, the region now known as the City of Saint John became heavily populated and settled. Displaced American colonists, called ‘Loyalists' because they chose to remain loyal to the British crown, were offered land in this region to compensate for their
losses. Small ships began arriving in the harbour in May of 1783. Just two short years later, in May of 1785, the City of Saint John was established by Royal Charter making it the first incorporated city in Canada.

The Loyalists soon recognized the value of New Brunswick's forests and developed a shipbuilding and lumber trade based at the Port of Saint John. Through the early and middle 1800s, New Brunswick lumber was highly prized throughout Britain for use as masts and timbers in their ship building industry.

For Saint John, the 1850's were a golden age with shipping and shipbuilding at their peak. It became the largest wooden shipbuilding city in Canada and the fourth largest in the British Empire. The most famous ship built in Saint John was the Marco Polo. She was launched on April 17, 1851. The Marco Polo was of a unique design and became known as the ‘fastest ship in the world'. In 1852 she made the trip from Liverpool to Australia in 5 months and 21 days - an unheard of speed in those days.

Wooden ships were tied four or five deep at the wharves. In 1877, a fire levelled what is now Uptown Saint John. In a contemporary publication of the time, it was stated "When the schooners had caught, the flames mounted the masts and communicating with one another formed a complete bridge of fire from the north wharf to the south."

The Port of Saint John has kept in step with the progress of the city to reflect the needs of commerce, transport, tourism and public access to a burgeoning waterfront development plan.

Saint John and its port were rebuilt very quickly but changes were taking place around the world which affected this area. Following confederation, shipping became centralized in Montreal and for many years, Saint John became known as a winterport.

Former port manager, Gordon Mouland started with the Port of Saint John in 1948 to work on the construction of the Pugsley Terminal berths. "The old wharves were timber structure and it was difficult to work cargo through them. The new wharves now known as Pugsley A and B are concrete and steel."

It is to these new wharves that the cruise ships tie up. The cruise ship industry in Saint John began mostly by accident in 1989, after a cruise ship heading for Bermuda was re-routed here due to a hurricane. The passengers and the cruise line enjoyed their unexpected visit and that was the beginning of an exciting new venture. For the first few years there were only a few thousand visitors but the business has grown seven-fold. Saint John is well placed geographically to be the destination as it is an ideal location for a four or five day cruise from home ports such as New York or Philadelphia. This year beginning on April 8 and ending on October 27, almost 60 cruise ships bringing 140,000 passengers are expected to arrive in Saint John. Saint John has welcomed the QE2 and this year the largest cruise ship - Voyager of the Seas is scheduled to make twelve trips.

The old wooden wharves and the wooden sailing ships are gone but our port continues to evolve and to build new ways of ensuring a strong future.

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