It was a cutting edge carvel-built ship - planks laid side-to-side - with lidded gunports, allowing heavier guns to be carried. But what made her sink?
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Where time stands still
You are now entering the world of the Mary Rose, warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. It was a cutting edge carvel-built ship – planks laid side-to-side – with lidded gunports, allowing heavier guns to be carried. There’s something unusual here: time has frozen.
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It’s July 19th 1545, the day the Mary Rose sank. Why did it sink? How do we know so much about the people that lived on it?
Built for War by Twig World, GA&C
Built for war
The Mary Rose was a warship, as shown in this vintage engraving. When battle began, arrows and cannonballs were fired at the enemy. This was a military machine in which all on board had a specific role to play.
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“Hatch” the rat catcher
“Hatch” was a small Jack Russell terrier-type dog on board the Mary Rose. His job would have been to make sure that the ship didn’t become overrun with rats. His bones were found outside the Carpenter’s Cabin.
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Artefacts
The Mary Rose was home to the crew as well as a workspace. A variety of objects have been recovered from the ship over the years, from wooden chests to jugs, spoons and leather shoes.
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The Purser
If you were the purser, it was your job to control the food and drink on board according to the rations list. You would also be in charge of paying the crew. It is possible that the purser on the Mary Rose was a moneychanger, as a small set of scales was found on board.
Where’s the Money? by Twig World, GA&C
Where’s the money?
The skeleton believed to be the purser was found in a small store on one of the decks with his wooden chest containing gold and silver coins.
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Skeleton
The purser’s skeleton shows he died in his thirties. Although a strong, muscular man, the top part of his leg bones and hip joints were flat, so he would have had difficulty walking and been unable to straighten his back.
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Beer
As part of your daily ration of food and drink on board the Mary Rose, you would have been given beer. Beer was easier to store than water because it didn’t stagnate.
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Firing squad (archer)
If you were an archer on the Mary Rose, you were part of an elite group. You would need to be very tall (as high as 1.9 metres) to use the 1-metre longbows.
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From an early age, everyone in Tudor England was required to practice archery, but the bows on board the Mary Rose needed immense strength. Archers sometimes had to pull weights of 90 kilograms.
Skeleton by Twig World, GA&C
Skeleton
This adult male was 178cm tall and in his early twenties when he died. The skeleton was found near a longbow, wearing a leather jerkin, but there are further clues in the bones themselves that the man was an archer.
Face of the Dead by Twig World, GA&C
Face of the dead
This is our dead archer, forensically reconstructed. The middle of his spine was twisted, causing one of his shoulders to be higher than the other, and there’s a ridge on his right finger bone likely from pulling the string back on his longbow.
Tudor Archer by Twig World, GA&C
Tudor archer
During the time of Henry VIII, the English and Welsh armed forces were famous for their very powerful Welsh longbows. The longbows were made from the middle part of the yew tree, which made them springy and strong.
Symbol of Power by Twig World, GA&C
Symbol of power
Henry VIII needed a strong, visible navy to fulfil his ambitions and to intimidate his enemies. The Mary Rose, with its weaponry and skilled archers, generated respect in Tudor times, just like aircraft carriers do today.
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The Master Gunner and his crew
The Mary Rose was one of the first ships to be able to fire broadside (all from one side of the ship). Originally, it was equipped with 78 cannons – after an upgrade in the 1530s, it had 91.
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In battle, if you were part of the team that fired a cannon, you were called a gunner (cannons are also known as guns). There would have been either 4 or 6 of you in a team so that you could haul the cannon into place.
Drowned at their Post by Twig World, GA&C
Drowned at their post
A group of 6 skeletons were found on the main deck near a 2-tonne bronze gun – these are skeletons of men who drowned at their post. All but one of the skeletons showed extra bone growth on their spines (a process called ossification) from moving heavy guns all their lives.
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Powder monkey
A smaller skeleton, on the main deck, was likely a 12-year-old boy whose job was to carry gunpowder to the gun teams. He was known as a “powder monkey”.
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The master gunner
If you were a master gunner, you would be in charge of all the gun crews. It was your job to train them and, in the heat of battle, give the order to fire using a series of whistle blows.
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Time for battle
Imagine that it is July 19th 1545. The French have been gathering their troops ready to land in England since May. On July 16th, they set sail with 128 ships.
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The English have already met them with 80 ships in the Solent (the water between the Isle of Wight and mainland England) but retreated into the shallower waters of Portsmouth Harbour. The first day of battle saw no heavy loss.
An English Perspective by Twig World, GA&C
An English perspective
(Inspired by the account of Francois van der Delft and Charles Wriothesley, “Letters from the Mary Rose”, 2002, by DM Loades, Charles Knighton.)
Portrait of Henry VIII of England (Around 1537) by Hans Holbein, the YoungerMuseo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
On July 18th, Henry VIII happily ate dinner nearby aboard another of his warships, the Henry Grace à Dieu. So what went wrong?
An English Perspective by Twig World, GA&C
As evening approached, the ship of Vice-Admiral George Carew, the Mary Rose, began to turn around to fire from her other side; however, the wind suddenly became very strong and tipped her, causing her lower open gunports to become submerged under water.
Oil painting of the Mary Rose warship sinking in the Solent (2012-01-05) by ®Geoff Hunt, PPRSMAMuseum of Engineering Innovation
Water rushed in and she sank. Of the 500-plus people aboard that day, only 40 survived.
An English Perspective by Twig World, GA&C
The king heard that the French were only 5 leagues away so rushed back to land, and within 2 hours the fleet was seen approaching Portsmouth. We rushed to meet the enemy and opened cannon-fire on them. Suddenly the wind was against us and we were stuck.
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A French perspective
(Inspired by the account of Martin Du Bellay, Letters from the Mary Rose, 2002 by D.M. Loades, Charles Knighton).
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It was morning, and the sea and wind were calm. This meant we were able to move our ships and open fire on the enemy. Because their ships were bigger, they were more exposed to our cannon attack. Our ability to use oars also meant we were able to move and gain an advantage.
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Our luck lasted an hour, and in that time the Mary Rose was sunk by our cannon fire. Out of 500 or 600 men, only 35 survived. After this time, the wind changed, and if it had not been for the skill and experience of our men, we would have suffered a loss too.
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Human error
Is it possible that the captain or the crew made a mistake? The admiral’s family later claimed that he had said he had “the sort of men” he “could not rule”.
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Overloading
Is it possible that following the Mary Rose’s recent refit she was too heavy with guns on one side or carrying too much extra manpower/provisions? This would explain why the wind could have blown her over.
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Raising the dead
After the Battle of the Solent, it was thought that the Mary Rose would be recovered quite easily: “I trust that by Monday or Tuesday, at the farthest, the Mary Rose shall be weighed up and saved” (Letter by Charles Duke of Suffolk to Paget, August 1st 1545, Portsmouth).
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In fact, days after the battle, a Venetian salvage expert had already been consulted and hatched a plan to raise it using two merchant ships and cables. All attempts failed, and the Mary Rose was to remain on the seabed for a further 437 years.
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A chance discovery
In 1836, the Mary Rose was rediscovered by 2 divers, John and Charles Deane. They managed to recover some of the guns and a few other remains, but because the wreck was covered in hard clay they abandoned efforts.
A New Search Party by Twig World, GA&C
A new search party
The search for the Mary Rose was begun again in 1965 by Alexander Mckee and the Southsea British Sub-Aqua group. Using sonar scans, they were able to detect the ship. The surviving hull can be seen here.
Underwater Archaeology by Twig World, GA&C
Underwater archaeology
The Mary Rose’s recovery took decades, with many archaeologists diving to the wreck to carefully unearth her lost treasures, clearing clay and debris with vacuum tubes. Here a crewman’s skull is unearthed from the clay.
1982: The World Watches by Twig World, GA&C
1982: the world watches
In 1982, 60 million people watched the raising of the hull. Today, 500 years after Henry VIII watched her sink, we can visit and learn from HMS Mary Rose in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyards, thanks to modern conservation techniques.
