Mary Willoughby

Mary Willoughby was a ship of the English Tudor navy. She appears in the navy lists from 1532 during the reign of Henry VIII. She was named after Maria Willoughby, a lady-in-waiting and close friend of Catherine of Aragon. The ship was taken by the Scots in 1536 and was included in the Royal Scots Navy, The English recaptured her in 1547. The ship was rebuilt in 1551, increasing in size from 140 bm to 160 bm. Scottish service The Mary Willoughby was captured by the Scottish galleys of Hector Maclean of Duart in 1533. James V of Scotland employed the ship in his voyages to the Isles. The skipper of the Mary Willoughby was Hans Anderson, who lived in Leith. On 19 July 1539 cannon from Edinburgh Castle were put on the Mary Willoughby for the maiden voyage of Unicorn. On 24 August 1539 Mary of Guise and James V made a pilgrimage to the Isle of May in the Forth. They took three ships, the Unicorn, the Little Unicorn, and the Mary Willoughby. Hans Andersoun mended the ship at Leith in 1539, and it had a major re-fit between November 1539 and June 1540, by Florence Cornetoun costing £2566-18s-8d Scots. Cardinal Beaton paid £6 for painting her in July 1541, and sailed to France. In December 1542, Mary Willoughby, Salamander and Lion blockaded a London merchant ship called Antony of Bruges in a creek on the coast of Brittany. The Mary Willoughby fired on the Anthony, and its crew abandoned ship. The French authority at "Poldavy Haven" accepted a Scottish warrant shown to them by the Captain, named Kerr.