Salamander of Leith
The galleass Salamander, in the Anthony Roll
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History | |
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Scotland | |
Name | Salamander |
Builder | French |
Laid down | Unknown |
Launched | Unknown |
Acquired | 1537 |
In service | 1537 |
Out of service | 1544 |
Captured | 1544 |
Fate | Unknown |
Notes | Used against Scotland in 1547 by England. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Warship |
Tons burthen | 300 tons |
Propulsion | Sails |
Complement | 220 |
Armament |
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Salamander was a warship of the 16th-century Royal Scots Navy. She was a wedding present from Francis I of France to James V of Scotland.
Flagship of Scotland
Henry Ray saw James V and Madeleine of Valois arrive at Leith on 19 May 1537, noting four great Scottish ships and ten French.[1] Two French ships remained in Scotland as wedding presents; the Salamander and the Morischer, Moriset or Great Unicorn.[2] A list of French wedding gifts includes these two as 'great ships for the wars', with two further 'gallant ships of war.'[3] The ship was repaired or finished in France in March 1537, and James V gave gifts to workmen who set up a new mast at Honfleur.[4]
After a major refit by John Barton, the Salamander took James V on a pilgrimage from Leith to the
New costumes were bought for 4 trumpeters, 4 drummers, and 3 whistlers for the Scottish fleet.[9] The keepers of the Salamander were Alexander Lun and John Reid, and John Ker was its master.[10]
The Salamander became the king's flagship. In 1538 it was equipped with a new compass and four clocks.
Next month, James V embarked on the newly equipped Salamander at Leith, after first making his will on 12 June,[14] and accompanied by the Mary Willoughby, the Great Unicorn, the Little Unicorn, the Lion and twelve other ships sailed to Kirkwall on Orkney. Then he went to Lewis on the West. James's fleet in the West was provisioned from Dumbarton, Ayr and Irvine and returned to Edinburgh by 6 July.[15] John Barton sailed to Dieppe with the Great Lion and Salamander in June 1541, and had their 27 guns cleaned and the latter ship re-rigged.[16]
During 1542, the Mary Willoughby, the
The Salamander and the Scottish-built Unicorn were captured at Leith and used as transport for the return journey of a part of
The Salamander, listed in the English fleet as 300 tons with 220 men, and called a galleas in the Anthony Roll, and the Unicorn, returned to Scotland in Edward Clinton's invasion fleet of August 1547, and presumably contributed to the naval bombardment at the Battle of Pinkie.[21] The Salamander was in the fleet taken to Orkney by John Clere in 1557.[22] She may have been destroyed as late as 1574.[23]
References
- ^ State Papers Henry VIII, vol. 5 part 4 cont., (1836), 79, Clifford to Henry VIII.
- ^ Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, Chronicles of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1814), 372.
- ^ Guthrie, William, History of Scotland, vol. 5 (1767), p. 166 citing the list in Balfour's annals.
- ^ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 463.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 182-4: Thomas, Andrea, Princelie Majestie (John Donald: Edinburgh, 2005), pp. 158-159: National Records of Scotland, Household books.
- ^ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 60: Augustin Jal, Documents inédits sur l'histoire de la marine au XVIe siècle (Paris, 1842), pp. 9-10: BnF Français 4574.
- ^ Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Catalogue des actes de François 1er, 3 (Paris, 1889), pp. 613–614
- ^ Andrea Thomas, Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V (Edinburgh: John Donald), p. 159: Collection des ordonnances des rois de France: Catalogue des actes de François 1er, 8 (Paris, 1905), p. 271 no. 31819
- ^ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), pp. 399-402.
- ^ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 336-7.
- ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 8, 159.
- ^ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 353, 356, 421.
- ^ State Papers of Henry VIII, vol. 5 part 4 cont. (London, 1836), p. 180.
- ^ HMC Mar & Kellie (London, 1904), p. 15.
- ^ Cameron, Jamie, James V (Tuckwell: East Linton, 1998), pp. 245-248.
- ^ Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 465.
- ^ Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings (Tuckwell: East Linton, 2000), p. 181, citing Letters & Papers, Henry VIII, vol. 18: See also, William Stanford Reid, Skipper from Leith (University of Pennsylvania, 1962).
- ^ Letters & Papers, Henry VIII, 18:1 (London, 1901), no. 91.
- ^ Stevenson, Joseph ed., The History of Mary Stewart by Claude Nau, Edinburgh (1883), pp. 318, 338-9: The Late Expedition in Scotland (London, 1544), reprinted in Tudor Tracts, London (1903) pp. 41, 44.
- ^ Starkey, David, ed., The Inventory of Henry VIII, vol. 1 (Society of Antiquaries, 1998), pp. 145, 151.
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 12-13: Patten, William, The Expedition into Scotland 1547 (London, 1548), 1st table 'Y', notes 'our galley' off the battlefield.
- ^ C. S. Knighton & David Loades, Navy of Edward VI and Mary I (Navy Records Society, 2011), p. 338.
- ^ Correspondance Diplomatique De Bertrand De Salignac De La Mothe Fenelon, vol. 6 (1840), p. 93