The Mary Rose

On this day in 1545 the Mary Rose sank. But what was it?

The Mary Rose was a mighty warship. It was built in 1510, one year after Henry VIII became King in 1509.

It is easy to think of Henry VIII as the large unwell man he is often shown in painting and books. As a young man Henry was a great warrior and very fit. He also loved ships. All ships at this time were made of wood. Large merchant ships, which would normally be used for moving heavy cargo and goods around would be taken over at times of war. They were used to transport soldiers somewhere. Those soldiers would then leave the ships and fight a battle on land somewhere.

Henry wanted to change that and create an “Army at Sea”. He wanted to fight at sea, on the water, not simply transport soldiers somewhere else. The Romans had used ships to fight at sea. Even Alfred the Great has built special longships to fight the Vikings in 896.

But Henry had no special ships. So, he started to build some. There were 10 ships in 1509. When Henry died in 1547 there were 53. Henry called his new fleet the “Navy Royal”.

The Mary Rose was built in 1510. It was fast, much faster than all the other ships in the navy. It was a times the English flagship, where the Admiral commands all of the ships in the fleet from. It fought the French a number of times and even took troops to defend England when Scotland invaded. Although it was not the largest English ship (that was the massive Great Harry), the Mary Rose was Henry’s favourite ship.

There were times when the Mary Rose was rested and had it masts and sails taken down. Then it would be made ready to sail again.

Between 1536-37 the Mary Rose was improved, with new masts, new sails, new cannons and extra gunports to allow even more cannons. A gunport is a little door on the side of the ship that opens, to allow the cannon to fire. Then the little is shut again after the battle. These changes may have caused a problem. The Mary Rose was heavier and harder to control. That could cause a problem in a battle.

In July 1545 France was trying to invade England. The French had over 200 ships, of various sizes and even landed soldiers on the Isle of Wight. The English had 80 ships, some large warships, including the Mary Rose and other smaller ones. The English sent small ships on fire into the French fleet. The fire spread to the French ships and even destroyed their flagship.

But, while firing cannons at the French ships, it is believed the Mary Rose was trying to turn around to fire other cannons at the French. A strong gust of wind filled the sails and made the Mary Rose lean over. Those extra gunports that had been added were still open and sea water raced in. The Mary Rose then started to sink and the lean kept going. The ship capsized, which means it turned over.

Lots of the soldiers were wearing armour and not all sailors at that time could swim. The Mary Rose sank very quickly. But, there were also lots of nets on the side of the ship, which were designed to stop French attackers climbing on board. They may have been good at stopping people getting onto the ship, but they also stopped the English from getting out. There were about 500 people on the Mary Rose. Only 35 managed to survive. It is believed about 300 were trapped on the ship, maybe by those nets on the side.

It was a disaster. But, the French were driven off and finally retreated. England was not invaded. But Henry’s favourite ship had sunk.

Between 1545-1552 many attempts to locate and recover items from the Mary Rose were made. For example, the cannons would have been very useful. All failed. In the 1800’s many of the items from the Mary Rose were located and some were raised up. But, the location of the ship seems to have been forgotten. In the 1970’s the Mary Rose was located again. It was covered by thick mud at the bottom of the sea. It was decided to raise the ship and recover as many of the items as possible.

When it was raised on 11^th October 1982, it was shown on television. You can see the remains of the Mary Rose at a special museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. It is very good and lets us see how sailors lived and what a warship from hundreds of years ago looked like.

Henry VIII is called the founder of the “Navy Royal”, or as it became known, The Royal Navy.