On the 5th of February, 1736, these ships, with the first of the flood, were carried over Tybee bar and found safe anchorage within. The emigrants were temporarily landed on Peeper island, where they dug a well and washed their clothes. It was Mr. Oglethorpe’s purpose to send most of these Saltzburgers to Frederica that they might assist in the development of that town and the construction of its fortifications. Desiring the benefit of their ministers, not wishing to divide their congregation, and being reluctant to go to the Southward where “they apprehended blows,”—fighting being “against their religion,”—they persuaded Mr. Oglethorpe to permit them to join their countrymen at Ebenezer, whither they accordingly went some days afterwards and were heartily welcomed. It will be remembered, however, that Captain Hermsdorf, with his little company, assured Mr. Oglethorpe “that he would never forsake him, but serve with the English to the last.” His offer was accepted, and on the 16th he set out with Mr. Oglethorpe for Frederica. By this second accession the population of Ebenezer was increased so that it numbered in all some two hundred souls. Contentment and prosperity did not obtain in the town. In the fertility of the soil the inhabitants had encountered disappointment. Much sickness prevailed, and they were oppressed with the isolated character of their location. The creek upon which the town was situated was uncertain in volume, serpentine, and difficult of navigation. Although the distance from Old Ebenezer to the Savannah river by land did not exceed six miles, by following this, the only outlet by water, twenty-five miles must be passed before its confluence could be reached.[7] Moved by these and other depressing considerations, the Reverend Messrs. Bolzius and Gronau visited Savannah at the instance of their flock, and conferred with Mr. Oglethorpe as to the propriety of changing the location of the town. Moore says the Saltzburgers at Ebenezer were so discontented that they “demanded to leave their old Town, and to settle upon the Lands which the _Indians_ had reserved for their own Use.”[8]