there were attempts to create royal naval forces in the fifteenth century. james iv founded a harbour at newhaven and a dockyard at the pools of airth. he acquired a total of 38 ships including the "great michael", at that time the largest in europe. scottish ships had some success against privateers, accompanied the king on his expeditions to the islands, and intervened in scandinavia and the baltic, but were sold after the flodden campaign. scottish naval efforts subsequently relied on privateering captains and hired merchantmen. despite truces with england there were periodic outbreaks of a "guerre de course". james v built a new harbour at burntisland in 1542. the chief use of naval power in his reign were a series of expeditions to the isles and france. the union of crowns in 1603 ended conflict with england, but england's foreign policy opened up scottish shipping to attack. in 1626 a squadron of three ships were bought and equipped for protection and there were marque fleets of privateers. in 1627, the royal scots navy and privateers participated in the major expedition to biscay. the scots also returned to west indies and in 1629 took part in the capture of quebec.