Mary Rose

Home > People > History > British and Irish History: Biographies

Mary Rose, a ‘great ship’ of 600 tons, having an armament of about twenty heavy and 60 light guns and a complement of 400. She was built for Henry VIII and named in honour of his sister Mary Tudor. This ship, the first of her name in the British Navy, took part in the first (1512–14) and second (1522–5) French wars of Henry VIII, always as the flagship of the Lord High Admiral, her good sailing qualities making her a favourite to perform this role. In 1536 she was rebuilt to some extent and given a complete lower deck of guns—probably the first of the British Navy's ships to be so fitted. In 1544–5 she was active in Henry VIII's third French war, but when going out to engage a French invasion fleet off Portsmouth on 19 July 1545 she was swamped through her lower-deck gunports. She sank quickly with the loss of nearly all her company including her captain, Sir George Carew. In 1836 her remains were discovered by early pioneers in diving and some guns and artefacts recovered, but she was then abandoned. Further efforts were made to find her in 1965, and in 1967 Professor Harold Edgerton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pinpointed the wreckage with side-scan sonar. In 1979 the Mary Rose Trust was formed to undertake the necessary scientific programmes to examine the site and raise and preserve the remains, and to put them on display in the Mary Rose Museum situated in the Royal Naval base at Portsmouth. By the mid-1990s a three-stage conservation programme on the hull, which will take many years, was started. By then many thousands of finds, ranging from botanical specimens to the ship's guns and the remains of her crew, had been raised.

See also marine and underwater archaeology; shipwrecks.

Bibliography

Marsden, P. , Sealed by Time: The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose (2003).

Mary Rose. Built between 1512 and 1514, the Mary Rose was one of the finest vessels of Henry VIII's navy. On 19 July 1545, under the command of Sir George Carew, and watched by the king and by Lady Carew, she sailed from Portsmouth to join in an engagement with the French fleet. Not far from the shore, while setting sail, she sank with the loss of hundreds of men, including the vice-admiral. Although not in deep water, attempts to salvage her failed. But the Mary Rose Trust, founded in 1979 with the support of the prince of Wales, succeeded in recovering the hull on 11 October 1982. It is now on public exhibition at Portsmouth.

J. A. Cannon

Mary Rose Built between 1512 and 1514, the Mary Rose was one of the finest vessels of Henry VIII's navy. On 19 July 1545, watched by the king, she sailed from Portsmouth to join in an engagement with the French fleet. Not far from the shore, while setting sail, she sank with the loss of hundreds of men, including the vice‐admiral. The Mary Rose Trust, founded in 1979 with the support of the prince of Wales, succeeded in recovering the hull on 11 October 1982.