The Margaret was a Scottish

Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

 warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

 of the 16th century.

She was built at Leith

Leith

-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....

 around 1505 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...

, as part of his policy of building a strong Scottish navy. He named it after his new wife, Margaret Tudor

Margaret Tudor

Margaret Tudor was the elder of the two surviving daughters of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. In 1503, she married James IV, King of Scots. James died in 1513, and their son became King James V. She married secondly Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of...

. Records of shipbuilding between 1502 and June 1506 appear to refer to her construction; two French master shipwrights John Lorans and Jennen Diew were among the workforce. Some of Andrew Barton

Andrew Barton

Sir Andrew Barton served as High Admiral of the Kingdom of Scotland. Notorious in England and Portugal as a 'pirate', Barton was a seaman who operated under the aegis of a letter of marque on behalf of the Scottish crown, and is therefore more widely described as a privateer...

's sailors were employed watching the works. At the time she was built she was considerably larger than any other ship in the Scottish navy, but soon after she was superseded by a warship which was considerably larger again, the Michael

Michael (ship)

Michael was a carrack 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, constructed in 1504 by order of King James IV of Scotland...

. As her maiden voyage, the ship took James IV to the Isle of May

Isle of May

The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth, approximately off the coast of mainland Scotland. It is 1.8 km long and less than half a kilometre wide...

 in July 1506. New equipment included nine crossbows, 6 compasses, and two night glasses.

James IV ordered himself a special gold whistle, and bought another made of silver. The ship had a blue banner with the white saltire, and a yellow flag with the red lion of Scotland embroidered in gold and silk by a Flemishman called Nannik. Special Flemish cloth for the banners and streamers was ordered from Gerome Frescobaldi. The blue cloth of the saltire also formed the background of the lion's tongue and claws; "ane blew steik of sey to the banar for the schip with Sanct Androis cors in the myddis, and for toungis and clukis for the Lioun in the banar."

In the Spring of 1513, the Margaret was refitted to be loaned to 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...

. The English ambassador, Nicholas West

Nicholas West

Nicholas West , English bishop and diplomatist, was born at Putney, and educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow in 1486....

 described her preparation on 13 April 1513;

"On Monday, I went to the New Haven, and ther lyeth the Margaret, a ship nighe of the burden of the Cryst of Lynn, and many men workying upon her, som setting on her mayn top, and som caulking her above water, for under water she was new tallowed."

John, Lord Fleming, was Vice-Admiral on the Margaret, second to the 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:...

, Lord Admiral on the Michael. First the fleet burnt 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...

 and waited off Ayr

Ayr

Ayr is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde in south-west Scotland. With a population of around 46,000, Ayr is the largest settlement in Ayrshire, of which it is the county town, and has held royal burgh status since 1205...

 before going to France. Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie

Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie

Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie was a Scottish chronicler, author of The Historie and Chronicles of Scotland, 1436–1565, the first history of Scotland to be composed in Scots rather than Latin....

 believed that the fleet's delay provoked James IV to invade England. The Margaret was berthed at Dumbarton on her return with the Duke of Albany on 26 May 1515, after service in France. In July 1515, she was in the keeping of John Stewart of Ardgowan, with the James. New docks were built for the two ships in September. Their guns were unloaded under the direction of Gavin Jardane and John Drummond, master-wright

John Drummond of Milnab

John Drummond of Milnab was a 16th-century Scottish carpenter in charge of the woodwork of the palaces, castles and guns of James IV of Scotland and James V of Scotland.John Drummond was the second son of James Drummond of Auchterader...

, and transported from Glasgow to Edinburgh.