Volume 3 > Half-Volume 6

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stately, noble-looking man, clothed in rich armour,
enter the hall, went up to him and said, "Sir, are
you my father?" " Sir, I am not your father,"
replied the admiral, while tears fell fast from his
eyes at the question; "but I was a servant to your
father, and shall be to his authority till I die, and
enemy to those who were the occasion of his down-
putting."
The dialogue that occurred between him and the
lords, after this affecting incident, was brief and stern.
They asked if he knew of the king or where he was,
to which he answered, that he neither knew of his
highness, nor where he was at present. They then
demanded who those persons were who had retired
from the field, and been conveyed to his ships; to
which he answered, "It was I and my brother, who
were ready to have spent our lives with the king in
his defence." "He is not then in your ships?"
they rejoined; to which he answered boldly, "He is
not in my ships, but would to God that he were in
my ships in safety; I should then defend him, and
keep him scathless from all the treasonable creatures
who have murdered him, for I hope to see the day
when they shall be hanged and drawn for their de-
merits." These were hard words to digest, and
when we remember the names of those proud mag-
nates of whom the council was composed, and how
unscrupulous they were in dealing with their enemies
or resenting an affront, we can the better appreciate
the boldness of the man who, though alone, thus
rebuked and denounced them. They writhed under
his bitter words, but dared not resent them, for they
knew that their brethren Fleming and Seton were
in the Yellow Caravel, and that the good ship had
ropes and yard-arms. They dismissed him, therefore,
in safety, and it was well that they did so; for when
the lords who were in pledge returned, it was in great
dismay, for the sailors had become impatient at the
detention of their commander, and were fully pre-
pared to hang them if his stay on shore had been
continued much longer.
In this way the brave Wood had bearded a whole
troop of lions in their den, and retired with impunity;
but still they were determined that he should not
escape unpunished. He might be denounced as a
public enemy, and assailed with the same power that
had sufficed to crush the king. It was dangerous,
too, that such a man should go at large, and repeat
among others those threats which he had thrown in
their own teeth. Accordingly, with the new sover-
eign James IV. at their head, they applied to the
skippers of Leith, desiring them to proceed against
Wood and apprehend him, offering to furnish them
with sufficient ships, weapons, and artillery for the
purpose; but one of their number, Captain Barton�
probably one of those bold Bartons who, like Wood
himself, were famed at this time for exploits of naval
daring�declared that there were not ten ships in
Scotland that could give battle to the admiral with
the Flower and Yellow Caravel alone, so high was
his skill, and so completely seconded with good
artillery and practised seamen. Reluctantly, there-
fore, they were obliged to remit their designs of
vengeance, and pass on to the subject of the young
king's coronation. Wood also turned his attention
to his own affairs, the chief of which was a quarrel
with the good citizens of Aberdeen towards the close
of 1488, concerning the forest of Suckett and the
Castle Hill of Aberdeen, which, he alleged, had been
granted to him by James III. On this occasion the
Aberdonians denied his claim, and stood to their
defence, which might have been followed by a can-
nonade, had not the privy-council interfered between
the angry admiral and the equally incensed citizens.
It was then found that the property in question had
been granted to the city in perpetuity by Robert
Bruce, upon which Wood abandoned his claim.
All this was but sorry practice, however accord-
ant with the spirit of the age, and the high talents
of Wood were soon employed in a more patriotic
sphere of action. James IV., one of whose earliest
proceedings was to distinguish between his selfish
partisans that had made him king for their own pur-
poses and those who had generously espoused the
cause of his unfortunate father, received the latter
into favour; and among these was the ocean hero,
with whose first appearance he had been so mourn-
fully impressed. Having himself a high genius for
naval architecture, and an earnest desire to create a
national navy, he found in Wood an able teacher,
and the studies both of sovereign and admiral, for
the building of ships that should effectually guard
the coasts of Scotland and promote its commerce,
were both close and frequent. An event soon oc-
curred to call their deliberations into action. About
the commencement or earlier part of the year 1489
a fleet of five English ships entered the Clyde, where
they wrought great havoc, and chased one of the
king's ships, to the serious damage of its rigging and
tackle. As this deed was committed during a season
of truce, the actors were denounced as pirates; and
James, who felt his own honour sensibly touched in
the affair, commissioned Sir Andrew to pursue the
culprits, after he had proposed it to the other naval
captains, but in vain. The knight of Largo under-
took the enterprise, and set off in his favourite
vessels, the Flower and Caravel, in quest of these
dangerous marauders. He fell in with the five Eng-
lish ships off Dunbar Castle, and a desperate conflict
commenced. But though the English were so supe-
rior in force, and fought with their wonted hardi-
hood, the greater skill, courage, and seamanship of
Wood prevailed, so that all their ships, with the
captains and crews, were brought into Leith and
presented to the king.
This event was most unwelcome to Henry VII.
of England, and all the more especially that on
account of the truce he could not openly resent it.
Still the flag of England had been soiled, and some-
thing must be done to purify it. He therefore
caused it to be announced underhand, that nothing
would please him so much as the defeat or capture
of Wood, and that whoever accomplished it should
have a pension of �1000 a year. This was a tempt-
ing offer, considering the value of money at that
period; but such at the same time was the renown
of the Scottish captain, that the boldest of the mar-
iners of England shrunk from the enterprise. At
length Stephen Bull, a venturous merchant and
gallant seaman of the port of London, offered him-
self for the deed, and was furnished with three tall
ships for the purpose, manned with numerous crews
of picked mariners, besides pikemen and cross-bows
and a gallant body of knights, who threw themselves
into this daring adventure as volunteers. Bull di-
rected his course towards the Frith of Forth, and cast
anchor behind the Isle of May, where he lay in wait
for the Scottish admiral, who had gone as convoy of
some merchant ships to Flanders, and was now on
his return home; and to avoid the chances of mistake,
the Englishman seized some fishing-boats and re-
tained their owners, that they might point out to him
the expected ships as soon as they came in sight. In
the meantime Sir Andrew was sailing merrily home-
ward, little anticipating the entertainment prepared
for him (for the truce with England still continued),
and had already doubled St. Abb's Head. No
sooner did he appear in sight than Stephen Bull