away. Subsequently, a storm forced him to sail towards Norway. When Mary's supporters, led by Kirkcaldy, held Edinburgh Castle in April 1573, prolonging civil war in Scotland, the guns from Stirling Castle were brought to Leith in four boats. Regent Morton hired two ships in Leith with their masters John Cockburn and William Downy and 80 men for eight days. These masters of Leith sailed to Berwick upon Tweed to meet and convoy the English ships carrying the guns to bombard Edinburgh Castle. James VI goes to Denmark James VI hired ships for his ambassadors and other uses, and in 1588 James Royall of Ayr, belonging to Robert Jameson, was fitted out for Sir William Stewart of Carstairs to pursue the rebel Lord Maxwell with 120 musketeers or "hagbutters". In October 1589 James VI decided to sail to Norway to meet his bride Anne of Denmark. His courtiers, led by the Chancellor of Scotland John Maitland of Thirlestane equipped a fleet of six ships. Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch hired Falcon of Leith from John Gibson, described as a little ship. Maitland's expenses detail the preparation of James Royall hired from Robert Jameson, which was equipped with cannon by the Comptroller of Ordinance John Chisholm for the use of the royal gunner James Rocknow, usually based at Edinburgh Castle. The guns were probably intended for firing salutes. The sails of James were decorated with red taffeta. James VI sent Robert Dog from Denmark to Lübeck to buy gunpowder which he shipped to Edinburgh castle. James VI sent orders from Denmark to the town of Edinburgh requesting the council hire a ship for his return. They chose the Angel of Kirkcaldy, belonging to David Hucheson, and this ship was painted by James Warkman. When Captain Robert Jameson died in January 1608 James was at Ayr, unrigged and stripped of its furniture. Seventeenth century Royal and marque fleets After the Union of Crowns in 1603 conflict between Scotland and England ended, but Scotland became involved in England's foreign policy, opening up Scottish merchant shipping to attack. In the 1620s, Scotland became engaged in a naval conflict as England's ally, first against Spain and then also against France, while simultaneously embroiled in undeclared North Sea commitments in the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War. In 1626 a squadron of three ships was bought and equipped, at a cost of least £5,200 sterling, to