Various legends told throughout the centuries position Wallace as an important lieutenant to Sir Walter Raleigh or as a former governor of Tortuga.

Peter Wallace and his crew’s initial interest in it solely came from its value as an ambush spot. The most popularly recognized account of Wallace claims that he was initially based out of the popular pirate port of Tortuga and traveled with a crew of English buccaneers 1,000 miles west to the coast of Belize.

it provided optimal positioning for waylaying Spanish ships leaving and arriving at the lucrative Spanish colony of Honduras. The men that sailed with Wallace were hardened sailors, pirates, and buccaneers.

Popular legend claims that Peter Wallace would help form the first European settlement in Belize in 1638. Positioned at the mouth of the Belize River roughly where modern-day Belize City stands, it began as a simple hub for buccaneering until Wallace and his crew recognized that they could make a lucrative career out of the lumber industry there.