Henry’s flagship back in port

Press, 13 October 1982, Page 8

Henry’s flagship back in port

NZPA Portsmouth The Tudor warship Mary Rose, raised from the seabed after . more than four centuries, is now back in Portsmouth harbour, the site of its construction in 1510.

Lifting the remains of the ancient oak hull from Solent Bay capped 17 years of search, excavation and salvage begun by a small team of amateur divers and completed a cost of £4 million ($9.5 million).

A marathon live television broadcast of the recovery kept Britons in awe throughout most of the day. At one stage, hearts skipped a beat when a giant steel lifting cradle partially collapsed and appeared in danger of crushing the precious timbers.

Sirens hooted and large crowds lined the quaysides in the cold night air as the remains of the Mary Rose’s hull, supported by the steel cage and carried on a barge were towed into port under the searchlights of Navy ships. Margaret Rule, chief archaeologist of the Mary Rose Trust, called it “a dream come true,” and Alex McKee, who found the hull buried beneath the Solent mud, said it was “one of the biggest moments in British archaeology this century.” They and the many divers who worked on the project had never, in the murky waters of the Solent, had a single complete view of the entire wreck until a giant

crane winched the hull and its lifting cage from the sea yesterday.

As the man-of-war was brought to the surface in a calm sea and a slight drizzle a gun salute was fired and ships’ sirens sounded their praise for the feat.

Back in Portsmouth harbour the wreck is now being constantly sprayed with water to keep its timbers from drying out too quickly. It is hoped to have the ship on public display early next year, alongside the Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship of 1805.

Most of the port side of the Mary Rose has rotted away over the centuries but the entire 40 metre keel and all of the starboard side are virtually as they were when the ship sank with 700 on board on its way to fight the French in 1545. There is a real historic parallel between the two flagships — both fought against French fleets. In 1545 King Francois I of France sent 225 warships with 30,000 soldiers to invade England — and his enemy Henry VIII, who was at the time married to his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, had only 40 warships with which to defend his realm.

His Mary Rose was named after his sister, Mary, and also the Tudor Rose. The man-of-war, with its cannon loaded and archers ready, struggled to nearly a mile off the coast and then sank, probably because it

was overloaded, according to most marine experts. Meanwhile, the French force had landed on the Isle of Wight, marched east towards Brighton, and then returned home without any effective result.

Attempts were made to bring the Mary Rose, whose mast tips were above water, to the surface but they failed. In 1836 a few of her cannons were fished up and in 1845 the British Army tried to blow up the wreck as a danger to shipping. All trace of the Mary Rose was lost until 1965 when a diver found it.

When it is put on display the ship will be raised upright on its keel, planking and artifacts will be replaced and the whole 13metre high structure will stand as though sliced open along its centre to show a complete picture of shipboard life in Tudor times. Historians consider the wreck a priceless source of information about Tudor times and the early years of the Navy which, in the centuries that followed, won command of the world’s seas.

The Mary Rose was the first English warship on which heavy cannon were mounted at lines of gunports low down on the hull, a development which enabled ships to fire heavy broadsides against an enemy. The fundamental design of warships remained unchanged for more than three centuries.