Andrew Barton (privateer)

Andrew became notorious in England and Portugal as a 'pirate', though as a seaman who operated under the aegis of a letter of marque on behalf of the Scottish crown, he may be described as a privateer.

The letter of marque against Portuguese shipping was originally granted to his father, John Barton, by James III of Scotland before 1485.

Andrew then took a Portuguese ship which carried an English cargo, leading to more difficulties, and James IV had to suspend the letter of marque for a year.

[5] Andrew captured a ship of Antwerp in 1509, the Fasterinsevin (Scots for Shrove Tuesday; the name in Dutch would have been Vastenavond), which did not come within his letter of marque.

According to the story told in ballads, Andrew was shot and killed by an English archer during the battle and subsequently beheaded, his head being taken to Henry VIII as evidence of his death.

Hall mentions that the two ships were brought to Blackwall on 2 August 1511, and the prisoners were freed after an interview with the Bishop of Winchester, after acknowledging their piracy.

[12] George Buchanan has the detail that Andrew Barton continued fighting after his leg was broken by a gunshot, and encouraged his sailors by beating a drum before he died from his wounds.

[18] Another notable member was John Andrew Stedman (1778–1833) who was general in the Dutch army during the Napoleonic Wars (his father was a naturalised Dutchman who had been in the Scots Brigade in the service of the States-General of the Netherlands).