scottish privateers and pirates preyed on shipping in the north sea and off the atlantic coast of france. scotland's admiralty court judged whether a captured ship was a lawful prize and dealt with the recovery of goods. as the court was entitled to a tenth of the value of a prize, it was a profitable business for the admiral. the privateers andrew and robert barton were still using their letters of reprisal of 1506 against the portuguese in 1561. the bartons operated down the east coast of britain from leven and the firth of forth, while others used the french channel ports such as rouen and dieppe or the atlantic port of brest as bases. during the rough wooing in 1542, the "mary willoughby", the "lion", and the "salamander" under the command of john barton, son of robert barton, attacked merchants and fishermen off whitby. they later blockaded a london merchant ship called the "antony of bruges" in a creek on the coast of brittany. in 1544 edinburgh was attacked by an english marine force and burnt. the "salamander" and the scottish-built "unicorn" were captured at leith. the scots still had two royal naval vessels and numerous smaller private vessels, but would have to rely on privateers until the re-establishment of a royal fleet in the 1620s. when, as a result of the series of international treaties, the emperor charles v declared war upon scotland in 1544, the scots were able to engage in a highly profitable campaign of privateering that lasted six years and the gains of which probably outweighed the losses in trade with the low countries. they also operated in the west indies from the 1540s, joining the french in the capture of burburuta in 1567. english and scottish naval warfare and privateering broke out sporadically in the 1550s. in 1559, english captain william winter was sent north with 34 ships and dispersed and captured the scottish and french fleets, leading to the eventual evacuation of the french from scotland, and a successful coup of the protestant lords of the congregation. scottish and english interests were re-aligned and the naval conflict subsided.