“I’m waiting for the follow-up about Scotland’s vast pine forests (hence,Scotch pines) and how they were decimated by the Royal Navy’s need for masts in the 18th century.”
A lot of the ship building material for the Royal Navy came from the American Colonies (& Canada) — particularly the Carolinas. As a kid in elementary school I was always puzzled by the list of chief exports of colonial NC, the leading one being “naval stores”.
Spanish ships of the period were frequently built of South American mahogany & teak. Practically indestructable (they were great prizes, however).
The Scotish clans who were allied with Bonnie Prince Charles lost the clan wars in the early 1700's and many fled to the Carolinas, mainly North Carolina.
They made their living harvesting pine rosen and timber which was used on ship repairs in that period.
The king of England had a standing order for all his ships that came close to stop there and have the ships re-pitched, etc. These Scots who worked with the rosen/pitch were known as 'Tarheels' which to this day is North Carolina's 'nickname.' North Carolina (at the time) was a major ship building area.