The French Revolutionary and later Napoleonic Wars at first created confusion and hardship as the fishery was disrupted and Nova Scotia's West Indies trade suffered severe French attacks. However, military spending in the strategic colony gradually led to increasing prosperity. Many Nova Scotian merchants outfitted their own privateers to attack French and Spanish shipping in the West Indies. The maturing colony built new roads and lighthouses and in 1801 established a lifesaving station on Sable Island to deal with the many international shipwrecks on the island.