as governor and often ignored her warnings. One such incident led to Charles's loss of the city of Metz to France. Mary was forced to wage war against France in 1537 and to deal with the Revolt of Ghent between 1538 and 1540. Mary's appointment as Governor of the Netherlands was renewed on 14 October 1540, after the revolt in Ghent had been subdued. Defence of the Herring Fleet During the last decade of her regency, Scottish privateers became a serious problem in the North Sea. A 1551 petition by Antwerp merchants to the Habsburg government claimed that Scottish pirates and others, over the course of eight to ten years, had taken ships and goods that were worth about 1,600,000 Holland pounds. In 1547, Mary summoned deputies from the three fishing provinces to debate the matter. Many were in favor of safe-conducts, supposedly cheaper and more effective than building up naval armaments, but the Queen refused to negotiate with a weak Scottish government. Despite a firm sentiment against money for warships, Mary acted resolutely and issued orders forbidding all herring buses or merchantmen from sailing until the three fishing provinces could formulate an acceptable plan for naval defense. Under her pressure, the provinces agreed to create a common Netherlands war fleet, but differences were only completely worked out in the very last years of her government. Cornelis de Scepper, her chief naval strategist created a plan, according to which, a large naval squadron would patrol on station off the Estuary of Maas, while swift yachts would be responsible for communication with the herring fleet. Holland consented to provide eight warships for a fleet of twenty-five sail, intended to provide security for all branches of trade in the North Sea. James D.Tracy comments that "The development of this new strategy for naval defense was no small accomplishment, but most of the credit should go to the leadership provided by Mary of Hungary and her officials". Creation of a permanent navy Mary, the Admiral Maximilian of Burgundy and the Councillor Cornelis de Schepper were the team behind the professionalization process that characterized the Low Countries' maritime policy in the 1550-1555 period. The central government led by Mary tried to make provinces recognize the authority of the Admiralty. Mary favoured de Schepper over Maximilian but there were no distrust between the two men and the three formed an excellent team. Maximilian had too