MARY ROSE
Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:51 pm
The keel of the MARY ROSE was laid down in 1509 in Portsmouth Great Dock together with her sister the PETER POMEGRANATE.
The MARY ROSE was named after Henry VIII’s favorite sister.
Tonnage 700 tons, her keel was 100 feet, length overall of 150 feet. beam 36 feet and a draught of 16 feet.
4 Masts two square rigged and two lateen rigged. She carried around 2.400 square feet of sail. Carried a crew of around 120 men, 251 soldiers and 20 gunners.
Most of her weight was carried above the waterline in two strong wooden castles built for and aft on the main deck.
The first time she is mentioned in an official paper is on 29 July 1511 and it was an accounting item for her movement from Portsmouth to the Thames for fitting out.
After completing she fought in two French-English wars in 1512- 1514 and 1522 – 1525. Her first action in 1512 was under the flag of Sir Edmund Howard. To try to open a clear passage in the English Channel for a naval attempt to capture Bolougne. Later that year she was used as his flagship when he led an attack on the French fleet anchored at Brest.
In 1522 she carried a crew of 426, of which 244 were mariners, 125 soldiers and archers, 30 gunners, and the remaining 25 were servants and trumpeters.
1536 She was partially rebuilt on the River Medway. Gunports were cut in her side and cannons placed on her main-deck. She got now a armament of 15 bronze cannons, 12 feet long and firing a stone round shot.57 iron canons, and 70 anti personal guns. The MARY ROSE became the first ship what could fire a broadside.
In 1544 King Henry VIII attacked France, devastating the coast and capturing Boulogne.
1545 The King of France made a revenge attack on King Henry, he gathered a massive fleet at Le Havre under command of Admiral Claude D’Annebault, and the king ordered him to attack Portsmouth naval base and arsenal.
As soon King Henry knew of this plan he rode to Portsmouth, to defend the port, but when the French Armada arrived off the Island of Weight on 18th July 1545 with 235 vessels, he only had 105 ships to oppose the French fleet.
D’Annebault was also not so lucky his flagship the CARRACON burned to the waterline at Le Havre, and his new flagship the LA MAITRESSE went aground and sank on arrival off Bembridge.
On the morning of the 19 July 1545 the MARY ROSE sailed out of Portsmouth harbor under command of Vice Admiral Sir George Carew together with the British Fleet, and set sail to engage the French fleet in the Solent.
When the MARY ROSE passed the Southsea Castle she began to list to starboard and swing off course. The crew unable to shorten sail and right the ship. It is possible that most were sick with dysentery but confusion and overcrowding is more likely. There were put on board on sailing an extra 315 soldiers and archers. The extra weight of men and armour high in the castles made her unstable and caused the starboard list, when the soldiers together with piles of gunshot and armour slide to the starboard side, her fate was signed. Water began to rush trough the open gunports and she rapidly sank. The men trapped inside and all the decks roofed with anti boarding netting could not escape, about 700 men drowned only 40 survived.
The King watching the battle at shore, when seeing the MARY ROSE sinking cried out ‘Oh my gentlemen’ she drowned like rats.
The French landed on the Island of Wight, but D’Annebault fleet did not draw the English fleet from there save waters. The French destroyed some villages, but after a bloody fight the French were driven back to its boats. On the end of that day the French troops withdrawn, and a few days later the French fleet sailed to Boulogne and England was saved from a French invasion.
The King returned to London with the orders to raise the MARY ROSE. The first attempt to refloat her was unsuccessful, many canons were recovered, but the ship too much on the starboard side was left behind.
She remained in her watery grave until 1836 when the Dean brothers rediscovered the wreck. The two brothers John and Charles were the inventors of a diving suit and were working on an other wreck, when some fishermen complained that their nets were lost off Southsea. When the brothers descended to retrieve the nets they found a bronze cannon. The current had changed and some part of the MARY ROSE was exposed which had caught the fishing nets. They recovered some artifacts but after some time their interest faded and the wreck again forgotten until 1960.
But to find the wreck again was very difficult only in 1970 a canon was found, and some years later some of the wooden wreck. Then a painstaking digging begun. Slowly the midships and the remains of the castles were excavated. The starboard side was mostly still intact but port side was gone.
In 1982 the remaining hull was raised by her lifting frame by the floating derrick TOG MOR on 9 October and placed her on her special built cradle on the seabed.
11 October she was raised to the surface and the TOG MOR put her 500 ton weight on a barge. The first time after 437 years that some parts of the MARY ROSE were toughed by the light of day.
8 December the remains were placed in number three Dry Dock in the Royal Dock at Portsmouth.
A special hall was built and in October 1983 the hall was opened to the public, and today she still rest there.
The only Tudor warship what has survived in Britain.
Gambia 1998 5d sg 2907 and 2001 7D sg?
Great Britain 1982 15½p sg 1187.
Grenadines of St Vincent 1983 60c and $2.50 sg 256 and sg 263.
Marshall Islands 1997 33c sg 1086.
Shipwrecks of the Wight by J.C. Medland. Some web-sites.
The MARY ROSE was named after Henry VIII’s favorite sister.
Tonnage 700 tons, her keel was 100 feet, length overall of 150 feet. beam 36 feet and a draught of 16 feet.
4 Masts two square rigged and two lateen rigged. She carried around 2.400 square feet of sail. Carried a crew of around 120 men, 251 soldiers and 20 gunners.
Most of her weight was carried above the waterline in two strong wooden castles built for and aft on the main deck.
The first time she is mentioned in an official paper is on 29 July 1511 and it was an accounting item for her movement from Portsmouth to the Thames for fitting out.
After completing she fought in two French-English wars in 1512- 1514 and 1522 – 1525. Her first action in 1512 was under the flag of Sir Edmund Howard. To try to open a clear passage in the English Channel for a naval attempt to capture Bolougne. Later that year she was used as his flagship when he led an attack on the French fleet anchored at Brest.
In 1522 she carried a crew of 426, of which 244 were mariners, 125 soldiers and archers, 30 gunners, and the remaining 25 were servants and trumpeters.
1536 She was partially rebuilt on the River Medway. Gunports were cut in her side and cannons placed on her main-deck. She got now a armament of 15 bronze cannons, 12 feet long and firing a stone round shot.57 iron canons, and 70 anti personal guns. The MARY ROSE became the first ship what could fire a broadside.
In 1544 King Henry VIII attacked France, devastating the coast and capturing Boulogne.
1545 The King of France made a revenge attack on King Henry, he gathered a massive fleet at Le Havre under command of Admiral Claude D’Annebault, and the king ordered him to attack Portsmouth naval base and arsenal.
As soon King Henry knew of this plan he rode to Portsmouth, to defend the port, but when the French Armada arrived off the Island of Weight on 18th July 1545 with 235 vessels, he only had 105 ships to oppose the French fleet.
D’Annebault was also not so lucky his flagship the CARRACON burned to the waterline at Le Havre, and his new flagship the LA MAITRESSE went aground and sank on arrival off Bembridge.
On the morning of the 19 July 1545 the MARY ROSE sailed out of Portsmouth harbor under command of Vice Admiral Sir George Carew together with the British Fleet, and set sail to engage the French fleet in the Solent.
When the MARY ROSE passed the Southsea Castle she began to list to starboard and swing off course. The crew unable to shorten sail and right the ship. It is possible that most were sick with dysentery but confusion and overcrowding is more likely. There were put on board on sailing an extra 315 soldiers and archers. The extra weight of men and armour high in the castles made her unstable and caused the starboard list, when the soldiers together with piles of gunshot and armour slide to the starboard side, her fate was signed. Water began to rush trough the open gunports and she rapidly sank. The men trapped inside and all the decks roofed with anti boarding netting could not escape, about 700 men drowned only 40 survived.
The King watching the battle at shore, when seeing the MARY ROSE sinking cried out ‘Oh my gentlemen’ she drowned like rats.
The French landed on the Island of Wight, but D’Annebault fleet did not draw the English fleet from there save waters. The French destroyed some villages, but after a bloody fight the French were driven back to its boats. On the end of that day the French troops withdrawn, and a few days later the French fleet sailed to Boulogne and England was saved from a French invasion.
The King returned to London with the orders to raise the MARY ROSE. The first attempt to refloat her was unsuccessful, many canons were recovered, but the ship too much on the starboard side was left behind.
She remained in her watery grave until 1836 when the Dean brothers rediscovered the wreck. The two brothers John and Charles were the inventors of a diving suit and were working on an other wreck, when some fishermen complained that their nets were lost off Southsea. When the brothers descended to retrieve the nets they found a bronze cannon. The current had changed and some part of the MARY ROSE was exposed which had caught the fishing nets. They recovered some artifacts but after some time their interest faded and the wreck again forgotten until 1960.
But to find the wreck again was very difficult only in 1970 a canon was found, and some years later some of the wooden wreck. Then a painstaking digging begun. Slowly the midships and the remains of the castles were excavated. The starboard side was mostly still intact but port side was gone.
In 1982 the remaining hull was raised by her lifting frame by the floating derrick TOG MOR on 9 October and placed her on her special built cradle on the seabed.
11 October she was raised to the surface and the TOG MOR put her 500 ton weight on a barge. The first time after 437 years that some parts of the MARY ROSE were toughed by the light of day.
8 December the remains were placed in number three Dry Dock in the Royal Dock at Portsmouth.
A special hall was built and in October 1983 the hall was opened to the public, and today she still rest there.
The only Tudor warship what has survived in Britain.
Gambia 1998 5d sg 2907 and 2001 7D sg?
Great Britain 1982 15½p sg 1187.
Grenadines of St Vincent 1983 60c and $2.50 sg 256 and sg 263.
Marshall Islands 1997 33c sg 1086.
Shipwrecks of the Wight by J.C. Medland. Some web-sites.