70 ALL AFLOAT 



there was little internal development anywhere 

 in America ; and less in Canada than in what 

 soon became the United States. People worked 

 beside the waterways and looked seaward for 

 their profits. Elias Derby, the first American 

 millionaire, who died in 1799, made all his 

 money, honestly and legally, out of shipping. 

 Others made fortunes out of smuggling. An 

 enterprising smuggler at Bradore, just inside 

 the Strait of Belle Isle, paved his oaken stairs 

 with silver dollars to keep the wood from 

 wearing out ; and he could well afford to 

 do so. 



The maritime provinces of Nova Scotia 

 (then including New Brunswick) and Prince 

 Edward Island had been gradually growing 

 for a quarter of a century before the United 

 Empire Loyalists began to come. Halifax 

 was a garrison town and naval station. There 

 was plenty of fish along the coast ; and the 

 many conveniently wooded harbours naturally 

 invited lumbering and shipbuilding. Fish and 

 furs were the chief exports up to the War of 

 1812; after that, timber. The Loyalists came 

 in small numbers before 1783; in larger 

 numbers during the five years following. 

 From twenty to thirty thousand altogether are 

 said to have settled in the Maritime Provinces. 



