ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. 57 



commerce was every where extended ; * and it was 

 enacted by parliament, <f That all maritime towns 

 fhould buikl buffes, or veffels of at leaft twenty 

 tons burden, to be employed in fifhingj ^nd thac 

 all idle perfons fhould be prefled into that fervice." 

 Provifions were made for the improverpent of 

 agriculture, and as the wood of Scotland wa$ 

 aimed deilroyed, on account of the fmall fines 

 annexed to the offence -, the old laws for enco'u- 



bcfore, with three hundred {hot of fmall artillery, that is to fay, 

 myand and battert-falcou, and quarter-falcon, Uings, pefteleiu 

 ferpetens, and double-dogs, with hagtor and culvering, cors-bows 

 and hund-bo\vs. She had three hundred mariners to tail her ; flic 

 had fix fcore of gunners to ule her artillery ; and had a thoufantl 

 men of war, by her captain, fhippers, and quarter-mailers. 



V/hen this fhip pall to the lea, and was lying in the road, the 

 king gart fhoot a cannon at her, to allay her if Ihe was wight ; but 

 I heard lay, it deared her not, and did her little Ikaith.' And it" 

 any man believe that this defcription of the fhip be not of verity, 

 as we have written, let hi;n pals to the gate of Tiliibardin, and 

 there, afore the fame, ye will fee the length and breadth of her, 

 planted with hawthorn, by the wtight that helped to make her. 

 As for other properties of her, Sir Andre\v Wood is my author, 

 who was quarter-matter of her ; and Robert Bartyne, who was 

 mafter fhipper. " 



Buchanan fays, " that James built three {lately iliips of a great 

 bulk, and many, alio, of a middle rate ; one of his great ones 

 was, to admiration, the biggeil that ever any man had ieen fail 

 on the ocean, it being alib fumiihed with all manner of coilly 

 accommodations. The greatnefs of it appeared by this, that tha 

 news ftirred up Francis king of France, and Plenry V11I. king of 

 England, each of them to build a ihip in imitation of it, and each 

 endeavouring to outvie the other. " 



The above curious defcription, while it conveys to pofterity the 

 particulars of naval architecture, llrength, &c. in ages which we 

 call barbarous, ferves alfo, to illufirate this important truth, 

 That the genius of Scotfmen is particularly adapted for navigation 

 and mip-building. 



* Meurfius, the Daaiihhiilorian, relates, that in i^io, the Bal- 

 tic fea being much frequented by the Englifh, French, and Scot- 

 t-ifli merchant mips, John king of Denmark prefled all the mips, 

 of the above-named three nations, into his affiftance, again it tne 

 Hanfeatic towns, who had invaded- his dominions. That upon the 

 Hanfeatics being joined by the Swedes, the king of Denmark, in his 

 neceflity, purchafed {hips of England, France, and Scotland, his 

 allies, at a great expence. v 



raging 



