In order to reveal the creep mechanical properties of red sandstone under different water content conditions，we carry out triaxial compression creep tests under the control conditions of 0%，1.25%，3.16% and 5.38% water content，and analyze the creep test results to explore the strain characteristics，creep rate and long-term strength of red sandstone under different water bearing conditions. It is found that：1）Red sandstone shows three-stage creep behavior under the action of water and stress，and creep failure occurs in rocks with high water content under less loading levels；2）The creep strain of red sandstone is much larger than the instantaneous strain，and the action of water promotes the growth of instantaneous and creep strain；3）The increase of moisture content promotes the increase of initial and ultimate accelerated creep rate；4）The long-term strength of red sandstone under four water contents is 22.86，21.91，16.27 and 10.74 MPa respectively. The long-term strength decreases gradually with the increase of water content. The research results may serve as reference for the study of creep characteristics of red sandstone and the long-term stability analysis of port foundation.