The squadron under his orders consisted of four ships--the _Unicorn_,
on which he himself embarked, the _Primrose_, the _James_, and
the _Robert_. They were all heavily armed, and had four hundred
arquebusiers, besides the respective crews.
Calling at Kirkwall, Grange was informed that Bothwell was at Shetland,
and at once made for the Bressay Sound. There the _Pelican_ and the
_Breame_, with the two lesser craft, were seen lying at anchor. A
number of the men belonging to the crews were on shore, and the Earl
himself was dining with Sinclair. When those who remained on board
caught sight of the squadron as it entered the Sound by the south,
they slipped their cables, and setting all sail, steered for the
northern channel. In spite of the remonstrances of his master-mariner,
Kirkcaldy, bent on carrying out the dashing tactics which he had
so often found successful in his cavalry charges on land, ordered
every stitch of canvas to be crowded on the _Unicorn_, and hastened
in pursuit. His ship sailed well, and was gradually gaining on the
hindmost of the fugitives; but it drew more water than they. Even for
them, the navigation of the rock-strewn channel was difficult and
dangerous. One of them grazed a sunken reef, over which it barely
managed to slip, though not without damage. The _Unicorn_ was less
fortunate. Striking the same rock with violence, it filled and sank so
rapidly that Grange and his men were with difficulty rescued by the
other ships. The rock that caused the catastrophe is still known by the
name of the vessel to which it proved fatal.
When Bothwell heard of Kirkcaldy’s arrival, he succeeded in reaching
the _Pelican_, which, with its consorts, had retired to Unst, the most
northerly of the islands. But before he could get safely away the
pursuers were upon him again. There followed a sharp engagement which
lasted three hours, and in the course of which the mast of his best
ship was shot down. He owed his deliverance to a south-westerly gale
which suddenly sprang up and drove him out to sea, together with two
of his other ships. The fourth was captured; but Grange was obliged to
return to Dundee with a few prisoners of inferior note. The Earl whom
he had promised to take quick or dead, had escaped to Norway.
_IX._ LANGSIDE--AND AFTER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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