The Mary Rose
The Mary Rose was King Henry VIII's favourite warship; he named the ship after his sister. The ship was built
in 1509, the year Henry VIII came to the throne.
On 19 July 1545, the French had landed on the Isle of Wight. Henry came to South sea Castle to watch his fleet
leave Portsmouth and engage with the French force in the Solent. Leading the English fleet in full pride and joy
was the Mary Rose. From his advantage point on top of South sea castle, Henry had a commanding view of the
impending battle. Then disaster struck, right before his eyes Henry watched one of the greatest naval tragedies,
the sinking of his flagship, the Mary Rose.
It is not known exactly what happened to cause the sinking of the ship, but one theory suggests that the crew
fired the guns on one side of the ship and were turning the ship to fire the guns on the other side.
Unfortunately, they failed to close the gun ports and a combination of this and the wind caused the ship to tilt,
fill with water and sink. The Mary Rose sank within a matter of minutes with seven hundred sailors lost.
The discovery and submerging of the Mary Rose in 1982 has provided us with a unique glimpse of maritime life
in Portsmouth during the reign of Henry VIII. The remains of the Mary Rose are now on display at Portsmouth
Dockyard Naval Museum. A great number of artefacts were uncovered during excavation, including
navigational and medical equipment, carpentry tools, guns and of course the longbows and arrows as above.
These bows have been submerged for nearly 500 years and still look like they were crafted yesterday.
by Mandy Barrow
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