Andrew Wood of Largo
Scottish sea captain

Sir Andrew Wood of Largo (died 1515) was a Scottish sea captain. Beginning as a merchant in Leith, he was involved in national naval actions and rose to become Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He was knighted c. 1495. He may have transported James III across the Firth of Forth to escape the rebels in 1488.
Life
Andrew Wood's family lands were at Largo, Fife. The family are traditionally thought to be a branch of the Wood family from Bonnington or Bonnyton in Angus. Probably beginning his career as a merchant in Leith, he was knighted by James III and married Elizabeth Lundie.
According to tradition, Wood was given a grant of the lands of Largo around 1480, in return for the service of maintaining a ship to take the King and Queen on pilgrimages to the shrine and well of Saint Adrian on the Isle of May. It was believed that a visit to the shrine could help a woman become pregnant.
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This entry incorporates text from “Andrew Wood of Largo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.