Sir Hugh Crawford was the Second Sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

 of Ayrshire

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

, Chief of Clan Crawford, and Lord of Loudon Castle. He probably lived in Loudon Castle even while he administrated quite some distance away in the town of Ayr. But Norse control over traditional Scots in the Western Isles and the under-handed way in which they gained control had been an aggravation to the Scots for years. Alexander III of Scotland

Alexander III of Scotland

Alexander III was King of Scots from 1249 to his death.-Life:...

 began pressing diplomatically and militarily to regain control beginning in 1260. This prompted Haakon IV of Norway

Haakon IV of Norway

Haakon Haakonarson , also called Haakon the Old, was king of Norway from 1217 to 1263. Under his rule, medieval Norway reached its peak....

 to lead a large fleet in 1263 to the maritime boundary

Maritime boundary

Maritime boundary is a conceptual means of division of the water surface of the planet into maritime areas that are defined through surrounding physical geography or by human geography. As such it usually includes areas of exclusive national rights over the mineral and biological resources,...

 between the jurisdictions located along the northwest shore of Ayrshire.

Hugh, as the regional representative of the King and intimately familiar with the climate, offered a plan to Alexander to delay the Norse fleet in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

until the Autumn weather turned nasty. And it did on September 30, crushing the Norse fleet against the shoreline rocks. The Scots then attacked the confused Norse on the shore at Largs. The Norse escaped back to Norway in tatters, never to claim the Western Isles again. Alexander awarded Hugh the estate at Crosbie, shown to the right, in appreciation for his contribution to the defeat of the Norse.