James VI had sailed to Denmark to fetch his bride, Anne, and the return voyage in 1589 met bad weather. When the North Berwick case opened, this became part of the charge. According to the confessions recorded in Newes from Scotland, Agnes Sampson described a charm made with a dead cat, to which parts of a dead man had been tied, sunk into the sea near Leith. Wikipedia's summary of her case says this was said to have caused a drowning on the Forth in September 1589 and to have made the weather dangerous for the royal fleet.
The king took the matter as a personal attack. Agnes Sampson reportedly convinced him of her powers by repeating something he had said privately to his wife on their wedding night, according to the Mysterious Britain account. That story is told in later retellings and rests on the same tainted record, so it should be read as tradition, not as proof of anything uncanny.
The location is placed off North Berwick as the town linked to the coven. The rite itself was said to be near Leith, which is in the City of Edinburgh.
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