Salamander of Leith
| History | |
|---|---|
 Scotland
|
|
| Name: | Salamander |
| Builder: | French |
| Laid down: | Unknown |
| Launched: | Unknown |
| Acquired: | 1537 |
| In service: | 1537 |
| Out of service: | 1544 |
| Captured: | 1544 |
| Fate: | Unknown |
| Notes: | Used against Scotland in 1547 by England. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Warship |
| Tons burthen: | 300 tons |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 220 |
| Armament: |
|
The Salamander was a warship of the 16th-century Royal Scots Navy. She was a wedding present from Francis I of France to James V of Scotland.
Henry Ray saw James V and Madeleine of Valois arrive at Leith on 19 May 1537, noting four great Scottish ships and ten French. Two French ships remained in Scotland as wedding presents; the Salamander and the Morischer, Moriset or Great Unicorn. A list of French wedding gifts includes these two as 'great ships for the wars', with two further 'gallant ships of war.' The ship was repaired or finished in France in March 1537, and James V gave gifts to workmen who set up a new mast at Honfleur.
After a major refit by John Barton, the Salamander returned to France in May 1538 to pick up the new queen, Mary of Guise, accompanied by the Moriset, and Mary Willoughby. The Salamander became the king's flagship. In 1538 it was equipped with a new compass and four clocks. The Great Lion and the Salamander were fitted with 15 large wheeled guns and 10 smaller wheeled guns in May 1540. The 22 crossbows of the Salamander and 9 small hagbut guns used on the tops were inspected and repaired, and two and half fothers of lead bought for ballast. Next month, James V embarked on the newly equipped Salamander at Leith, after first making his will on 12 June, and accompanied by the Mary Willoughby, the Great Unicorn, the Little Unicorn, the Lion and twelve other ships sailed to Kirkwall on Orkney. Then he went to Lewis on the West. James's fleet in the West was provisioned from Dumbarton, Ayr and Irvine and returned to Edinburgh by 6 July. John Barton sailed to Dieppe with the Great Lion and Salamander in June 1541, and had their 27 guns cleaned and the latter ship re-rigged.
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