Although no one knows for sure when Brigus was settled, one tradition is that it was settled shortly after Cupids. It is said that the settlement started in 1612, when the Spracklin family purchased half the harbour from John Guy. However, there is a written record of the population in 1675, when the first census of Newfoundland was compiled. Sir John Berry's census of 1675 lists 34 people living in Brigus, with three fishing rooms in operation. Two years later, the Poole census showed three families operating five fishing rooms, as well as raising cattle and pigs.
In 1697, Brigus was captured and burned by the French under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville as part of King William's War.. Jean Baudoin, who accompanied d'Iberville as his chaplain, kept a journal of the campaign, which recorded a number of details about the people and the communities that were attacked. His comments and records reveal a great deal about where English settlers were living and how they were living at that time.