The 'Mary' was originally built for the Dutch East India Company and bought by the City of Amsterdam for presentation to King Charles II at his restoration in 1660. The ship measured 66 feet in length and 18 in the beam. It weighed 100 tonnes and carried an armament of six three-pounder guns.

The 'Mary' was the first official royal yacht and was used by the King for both pleasure and for visits to the fleet. It was wrecked off the Skerries in 1675.

Rigging shots were used to cripple enemy vessels by dismasting them. Shaped like a dumbell, with two end weights connected by an iron bar, the rigging shot was fired from a cannon in the usual way. As it tumbled through the air it wound itself around the standing rigging supporting the enemy vessel's mast, thus bringing it down.

Source: Moelfre Seawatch Centre