When European fishermen first arrived in Newfoundland, rogues like Black Bart Roberts terrorized the East Coast, stealing treasure from ships. In the early 1700’s the governor of Louisburg erected new defenses in his small port with dozens of cannons to defend against pirates. The colonists were fighting back.

By the early 1800s, Atlantic pirates were being punished harshly, but ships could now be captured legitimately.  Licenses, Letters of Marque, allowed privateers to capture foreign merchant ships. During the war of 1812 they captured at many American ships and sold the proceeds, becoming very rich. They brought American trade and Atlantic military operations to an absolute standstill and helped win the war.

Enos Collins used his fortune to start The Halifax Banking Company which would eventually merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. By the time Collins died, privateering had been outlawed, ending “The Golden Age of Piracy”. Legends of buried treasure became a romantic echo of the real pirates who once ruled these waves.