She was the largest ship built by King James IV of Scotland as part of his policy of building a strong Scottish navy.

She was ordered around 1505 and laid down in 1507 under the direction of Captain Sir Andrew Wood of Largo and the master shipwright Jacques Terrell, launched on 12 October 1511 and completed on 18 February 1512.

[3] Account books add that timbers were purchased from other parts of Scotland, as well as from France and the Baltic Sea.

Russell (1922) notes that Michael was supposed to have been built with oak walls 10 ft (3.0 m) thick.

Instead of attacking the English, Arran raided Carrickfergus in Ireland and returned with loot before proceeding to France.

After James IV and many of the nobility of Scotland were killed at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513, Michael was sold to Louis XII of France on 2 April 1514 for the bargain price of 40,000 livres,[6] and became known as "La Grande Nef d'Ecosse" (The Big Nave of Scotland) (Nave is from the medieval Latin navis, meaning 'ship').