Michael (later popularly known as Great Michael) was a carrack

Carrack

A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted sailing ship developed in 15th century Western Europe for use in the Atlantic Ocean. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese , and later by the Spanish, to explore and...

 or great ship of the Royal Scottish Navy. She was too large to be built at any existing Scottish dockyard, so was built at the new dock at Newhaven

Newhaven, Edinburgh

Newhaven is a district in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, between Leith and Granton. Formerly a village and harbour on the Firth of Forth, it currently has approximately 5,000 inhabitants....

, constructed in 1504 by order of King James IV of Scotland

James IV of Scotland

James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...

. She was ordered around 1505 and laid down in 1507 under the direction of Captain Sir Andrew Wood of Largo and the master shipwright Jacques Terrell, launched on 12 October 1511 and completed on 18 February 1512. When launched she was the largest warship in Europe, with twice the original displacement of her English contemporary Mary Rose

Mary Rose

The Mary Rose was a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany and after being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 1545. While leading the attack on the galleys of a...

 which was launched in 1509 and completed in 1510.

The poet William Dunbar

William Dunbar

William Dunbar was a Scottish poet. He was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , where, too, it is hinted that he was a member of the noble house of Dunbar....

 wrote of her construction:

"Carpenters,

Builders of barks and ballingars,

Masons lying upon the land,

And shipwrights hewing upon the strand."

The chronicler Lindsay of Pitscottie wrote of the building of Michael that "all the woods of Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

" went into her construction (it has been suggested that by this period there was not much forestry left in Fife). Account books further add that timbers were purchased from other parts of 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...

 as well as from France and the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

. Supposedly there were many cargo loads of timber imported from Norway that were used in the construction of the Michael. Lindsay gives her dimensions as being 240 feet (73.2 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) in beam. Russell (1922) notes that Michael was supposed to have been built with oak walls 10 feet (3 m) thick. She displaced about 1,000 tons

Long ton

Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...

, had four masts, carried 24 guns (purchased from Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

) on the broadside, 1 basilisk

Basilisk (cannon)

The basilisk was a very heavy bronze cannon employed during the Middle Ages. The barrel of a basilisk could weigh up to 4,000 lb and could have a calibre of up to 5 inches...

 forward and 2 aft and 30 smaller guns (later increased to 36 main guns), and had a crew of 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and up to 1,000 soldiers.

Michaels other curious claim to fame is that she is said to have carried among her armament Mons Meg

Mons Meg

Mons Meg is a medieval bombard which can be classed as a supergun, now located at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. There are conflicting theories about its origins, but it appears from the accounts of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy that it was made to his order around 1449 and sent as a gift 8 years...

, the great cannon used earlier in the siege of Threave Castle

Threave Castle

Threave Castle is situated on an island in the River Dee, 2.5 km west of Castle Douglas, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...

, which had a calibre of 22 inches and thus made her the warship with the largest calibre gun in history, even when the 20th century 40 cm/45 Type 94

40 cm/45 Type 94

The Japanese was the largest bore gun ever mounted on any warship. They were actually 46 cm guns, but were designated 40 cm in an effort to hide their true size.-Description:...

 naval guns of the World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

-era Japanese battleship Yamato and her sister ship, the Musashi, are considered.

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 was unwilling to be outdone, and ordered the building of the 1000-ton Henri Grâce à Dieu, launched in roughly 1512, later known as Great Harry. These ships were the first great ships, the precursors of the later ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

.
Michael was named after the archangel

Archangel

An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...

 Michael

Michael (archangel)

Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...

 and built with the intention of leading a crusade against the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 to reclaim Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 for Christendom

Christendom

Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...

. This grandiose plan had to be changed when the commitments of the Auld Alliance

Auld Alliance

The Auld Alliance was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France. It played a significant role in the relations between Scotland, France and England from its beginning in 1295 until the 1560 Treaty of Edinburgh. The alliance was renewed by all the French and Scottish monarchs of that...

 with France required Scotland to go to war with England

Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...

 to divert England from her war with the Louis XII of France

Louis XII of France

Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...

 (see the Italian Wars

Italian Wars

The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...

).

In August 1513 a Scottish invasion force was assembled to attack English possessions in France. Commanded by James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran

James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and 2nd Lord Hamilton was a Scottish nobleman and first cousin of James IV of Scotland.-Biography:...

, the chief ships were Michael, Margaret

Scottish warship Margaret

The Margaret was a Scottish warship of the 16th century.She was built at Leith around 1505 by order of King James IV of Scotland, as part of his policy of building a strong Scottish navy. He named it after his new wife, Margaret Tudor...

 and James. Instead of attacking the English, Arran raided Carrickfergus

Carrickfergus

Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...

 in Ireland and returned with the loot before proceeding to France.

A warship of this size was costly to maintain. Michael was hired by France in late August 1513, and after James IV and many of the nobility of Scotland were killed at the Battle of Flodden Field

Battle of Flodden Field

The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field or occasionally Battle of Branxton was fought in the county of Northumberland in northern England on 9 September 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey...

 in September 1513, Michael was sold to Louis XII of Franc on 2 April 1514 for the cheap price of 40,000 livres

Livre tournois

The livre tournois |pound]]) was:#one of numerous currencies used in France in the Middle Ages; and#a unit of account used in France in the Middle Ages and the early modern period.-Circulating currency:...

 and was known as "La Grande Nef d'Ecosse" (The Big Nave of Scotland; nave is from the medieval Latin navis, meaning "ship,"). In March 1514 it was reported that the Michael was docked at Honfleur

Honfleur

Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...

 because she was too big for the harbour at Dieppe

Dieppe, Seine-Maritime

Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...

. Most historians have accepted the account of the Scottish historian George Buchanan

George Buchanan (humanist)

George Buchanan was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. He was part of the Monarchomach movement.-Early life:...

 that after this the French allowed her to rot at Brest

Brest, France

Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

. However recently one historian, Norman MacDougall

Norman Macdougall

Norman Macdougall is a Scottish historian who is known for writing about Scottish crown politics. He was a senior lecturer in Scottish history at the University of St Andrews....

, has suggested that it is worth investigating the possibility that, under her new French name, she took part in the French invasion of England in 1545 that led to the sinking of the English warship Mary Rose in the Battle of the Solent

Battle of the Solent

The naval Battle of the Solent took place on 18 and 19 July 1545 during the Italian Wars, fought between the fleets of Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, in the Solent channel off the south coast of England between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight...

on 19 July 1545.