[1] Chisholm shipped cannon and gun carriages from Leith and Dunbar north to Aberdeen and back in October 1562 during operations against the Earl of Huntly.
John's account for the event lists his ingredients, including, colophony, orpiment, quicksilver, arrows and dozens of small pottery vessels.
The fireworks were made in Leith and shipped to Stirling in great secrecy, carried to the castle at the dead of night "for feir of knowledge thairof."
[8] In April 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots confirmed in Parliament John Chisholm's possession of the King's Wark at the Shore of Leith.
[12] He was appointed Prefect and "Second Person" of the royal artillery of Scotland (S. D. N. Regis Machinarii Bellitarii Prefecti) on 23 August 1569, during the Regency of the James Stewart, Earl of Moray.
In February 1571 he was in London and wrote about ongoing peace negotiations, hoping that Elizabeth I of England would act to restore Mary to the Scottish throne.
[15] Chisholm and his ship were captured at North Queensferry in July by Patrick, Lord Lindsay, but he managed to pass some of the money to Mary's supporters.
In March 1573 William Maitland of Lethington thought his adversaries had discovered the key to the cipher code he used in his letters when James Kirkcaldy was captured.
"[20] The gift of the King's Wark, the Opus Regium, was confirmed in May 1588, giving his title as; Compotorus Rotulatori Tormentorum Bellicorum – Controller of the accounting rolls for war machines.
In May 1583 the English diplomat Robert Bowes reported him as a "notorious instrument" for Maineville, the agent of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox who was expelled from Scotland by the Gowrie Regime.