The Mary Rose

In 1509 the keel of two new warships were laid in Portsmouth great dock. These were to become the 'Peter Pomegranate' and the 'Mary Rose'. Named after Henry VIII's favourite sister, the first recorded mention of the Mary Rose was on 29th July 1511, and was an accounting item for her movement from Portsmouth to the Thames for fitting out. In April 1512 the Mary Rose's first action was under the flag of Sir Edmund Howard. The King had asked Howard to maintain a clear passage in the Channel for a naval attempt to capture Bolougne. Later in the year, Sir Edmund once again used the Mary Rose as his flagship when he led an attack on the French fleet anchored at Brest.

For several years Mary Rose campaigned with the fleet until, in 1536, she was partially rebuilt on the River Medway. This refit was primarily to allow her to carry more modern guns that were much heavier. In 1545 a major conflict with the French ensued. The French fleet, comprising some 220 ships, lay off the Isle of Wight, as the King's forces lay grouped in Portsmouth harbour. On 19th July the Mary Rose, under the command of Sir George Carew, set sail with the English fleet to engage the French in the Solent. For this campaign the Mary Rose not only had heavier guns, but was also carrying a substantially increased number of troops. As she hoisted sail and came about, she reportedly heeled over violently and, with her extra weight and her gun ports lashed open, she could not be righted. Taking on water at an alarming rate caused her to capsize, and she quickly went to the bottom, with the loss of some 700 men.

Salvage attempts were made immediately after the disaster and although many guns were recovered, raising the Mary Rose proved unsuccessful. At some time during the mid 16th century, all further attempts to salvage her were stopped. Over the next 300 years the exposed port side decayed in the currents leaving only the exposed deck timbers breaking the seabed silt from the now buried starboard side of the hull.

The Mary Rose remained in her grave at the bottom of the Solent until she was rediscovered in 1836 by the Dean brothers of Deptford. The brothers, who had recently pioneered a new fire-fighting suit, modified their innovative design to create the forerunner of modern diving suits. Now adequately equipped, they began a salvage operation lasting for some four years, during which time various artefacts were brought to the surface. No further salvage attempts were made for almost 130 years.

In 1971 she once again became the centre of a major operation when a dedicated archaeological team carefully excavated and prepared the site for the potential recovery of the complete starboard hull section. On 11th October 1982 the Mary Rose finally broke surface for the first time in 437 years.

Now residing in Portsmouth historic dockyard, the Mary Rose has returned to her home as the only surviving Tudor warship in Britain. Housed in a covered hall, and supported vertically by the lifting cradle that raised her, she will require constant spraying to remove micro organisms from her timbers, a process estimated to last for 20 years. The Mary Rose represents an almost complete cross-section through the length of the ship, and preserved within her hull were many artefacts and weapons from Tudor times, which are now exhibited in a superb museum adjacent to her resting place.