HMS Kingfisher, which bombarded Carrick Castle during the Earl of Argyll's rebellion in 1685. Scotland went to war against the Dutch and their allies in the Second (1665–67) and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars (1672–74) as an independent kingdom. A very large number of Scottish captains, at least as many as 80 and perhaps 120, took letters of marque, and privateers played a major part in the naval conflict of the wars. By 1697 the English Royal Navy had 323 warships, while Scotland was still dependent on merchantman and privateers. In the 1690s, two separate schemes for larger naval forces were put in motion. As usual, the larger part was played by the merchant community rather than the government. The first was the Darien Scheme to found a Scottish colony in Spanish controlled America. It was undertaken by the Company of Scotland, who created a fleet of five ships, including Caledonia and St. Andrew, all built or chartered in Holland and Hamburg. It sailed to the Isthmus of Darien in 1698, but the venture failed and only one ship returned to Scotland. In the same period it was decided to establish a professional navy for the protection of commerce in home waters during the Nine Years' War (1688–97) with France, with three purpose-built warships bought from English shipbuilders in 1696. These were Royal William, a 32-gun fifth rate and two smaller ships, Royal Mary and Dumbarton Castle, each of 24 guns, generally described as frigates. After the Act of Union in 1707, the Scottish Navy merged with that of England. The office of Lord High Admiral was subsumed within the office of the Admiral of Great Britain. The three vessels of the small Royal Scottish Navy were transferred to the Royal Navy. A number of Scottish officers eventually left the Royal Navy for service in the fledgling Russian navy of Peter the Great. These included the captain of Royal Mary Thomas Gordon, who became a commodore in 1717 took service and rose to be Admiral and commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet. Officers John Bosswell John Brown Thomas Gordon Andrew Wood of Largo Andrew Barton Robert Barton of Over Barnton See also List of warships of the Scots Navy Royal Navy (disambiguation) References Duffy, S. (ed.) (2002) Robert the Bruce's Irish wars : the invasions of Ireland 1306-1329, Stroud, Gloucestershire : Tempus, Grant, J. (ed.) (1914) The old Scots navy from 1689 to