The Maritime history of Scotland involves events including

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

, and seamen, as well as marine sciences, exploration, trade, and maritime themes in the arts of Scotland.

Royal Scots Navy

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

was responsible for developing the shipping interests of the country, establishing a shipbuilding yard at

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. His successor, James II, developed the use of gunpowder and artillery in Scotland and, in consequence, ships were built with hulls thick enough to resist artillery, and with high forecastles to carry guns. The pioneer in Scotland's newer type of warship was Bishop Kennedy of St. Andrews who was responsible for the building of the St Salvator, which cost £10,000.

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

continued the policy of building up the navy, having 38 ships built for his fleet and founding two new dockyards. His greatest achievement was the construction of ''

Great Michael ''Michael'', popularly known as ''Great Michael'', was a carrack or great ship of the Royal Scottish Navy. She was the largest ship built by King James IV of Scotland James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland fr ...

'', the largest ship up to that time launched in Scotland, the building of which cost £30,000. As Scotland and England moved closer during the seventeenth century, following the Union of the Crowns, the need for a navy to protect Scotland from the English Royal Navy lessened and by the time of the Union with England in 1707, the Royal Scottish Navy possessed just three ships: ''The Royal William'', ''The Royal Mary'', and .

Famous ships

The River Clyde was at one time the greatest shipbuilding centre in the world (some 30,000 ships were constructed there in the 19th and 20th centuries) and unsurprisingly many famous ships were built in Scotland.

''Great Michael''

The

was launched in 1511. She weighed 1,000

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s, was 240 feet (73 m) in length, was manned by 1,000 seamen and 120 gunners and was then the largest ship in Europe (according to the chronicler Lindsay of Pitscottie). She had Sir Andrew Wood as quartermaster and

Robert Barton Robert Childers Barton (14 March 1881 – 10 August 1975) was an Anglo-Irish politician, Irish nationalist and farmer who participated in the negotiations leading up to the signature of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. His father was Charles William Ba ...

as skipper. The ship was sold to France in 1514.

''Cutty Sark''

The ''

Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period ...

'' was a clipper ship built in 1869 in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, Scotland, to carry 600 tons of cargo. She raced the ''Thermopylae'' and other clippers in the

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

trade from China and later in the

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

trade from Australia. She was capable of sailing at over . Built as a

full-rigged ship A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel's sail plan with three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. A full-rigged ship is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged. Such vessels also have each mast stepped in three s ...

, she spent her final trading years as a

barquentine A barquentine or schooner barque (alternatively "barkentine" or "schooner bark") is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts. Modern barquentine sailing ...

. She was dismasted in 1916 but restored in 1922 then used as a training ship. ''Cutty Sark'' was taken over by a preservation society in 1952 and moved to

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. In 2007 she was damaged by fire during restoration work but is to be repaired.

''Queen Mary''

was built in 1936 by

John Brown & Company John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm. It built many notable and world-famous ships including , , , , , and the ''Queen Elizabeth 2''. At its height, from 1900 to the 1950s, it was one of ...

in Clydebank, Scotland, for what is now the Cunard Line. She made runs across the Atlantic between Southampton, Cherbourg and New York City in partnership with ''Queen Elizabeth''. The ''Queen Mary'' was used as a troop ship in the Second World War, carrying 16,082 people on one voyage. After the war she resumed Atlantic runs but these became loss making. She was withdrawn from service in 1967 and is now in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

California as a hotel and tourist attraction.

HMY ''Britannia''

HMY ''Britannia'' is the former Royal Yacht of the British royal family, the 83rd such vessel since the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. She is the second Royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the famous racing cutter built for

The Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...

in 1893. She is now permanently moored as an exhibition ship at Ocean Terminal,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Built at the shipyard of John Brown & Co. Ltd in Clydebank,

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter to ...

, she was launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 16 April 1953 and commissioned on 11 January 1954. The ship was designed with three masts, a foremast, a mainmast, and a mizzenmast. The top of the foremast and mainmast were hinged, to allow the ship to pass under bridges.

''The Mighty Hood''

was the flagship of the Royal Navy between the Wars.

''Comet''

Built in 1812, PS ''Comet'' was the first commercially successful steamboat in Europe.

RMS ''Lusitania''

was famously sunk by a U-boat, presaging the entry of the USA into the First World War.

Several ''Queen Elizabeths''

, the new aircraft carrier, and her sister ship . Also '' Queen Elizabeth 2'' and . Note that these are named after a number of different Queen Elizabeths.

HMS ''Duke of York''

winner of the last battleship action in European waters.

RRS ''Discovery''

RRS Discovery The RRS ''Discovery'' is a barque-rigged auxiliary steamship built in Dundee, Scotland for Antarctic research. Launched in 1901, she was the last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in the United Kingdom. Her first mission was th ...

Antarctic explorer, built at Dundee.

Honourable mentions

* (didn't rescue the Titanic) * (from the TV show Whale Wars) * ''Rainbow Warrior'' (1955) (sunk in New Zealand by the French) * RFA ''Engadine'' (K08) (served in the Falklands Conflict) * Japanese battleship ''Asah''i (one of many foreign warships) * (the original aircraft carrier) * CSS ''Robert E. Lee'' (Confederate blockade runner) * CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' (notable cable ship which collected the bodies of the people not rescued by ''Californian'') * (greatest loss of life in British maritime history) * (sunk by air attack along with HMS Prince of Wales) * (subject of the 1943 feature film) * RFA ''Sir Galahad'' (1966) (bombed in the Falklands conflict)

Maritime disasters

Eyemouth disaster The Eyemouth disaster was a severe European windstorm that struck the south-eastern coast of Scotland on 14 October 1881. One hundred and eighty-nine fishermen, most of whom were from Eyemouth, were drowned. Many citizens of Eyemouth call the ...

* Moray Firth fishing disaster

References

{{reflist