Sunday, October 11, 2009

16th century relics from the "Mary Rose"

I found this quite interesting: I have heard off and on about the raising of the Mary Rose, the lead ship of Henry VIII's fleet, which sank in a naval engagement with the French in 1545. Despite the sinking, this doesn't seem to me to be a very well-known historical event. I'll rely on Wikipedia below for the details.

What I had remembered reading was that the Mary Rose had sank because it was poorly-designed, i.e., to look at it in a simple way, it was top-heavy. According to what I've just read with regard to the news article (see the Wikipedia link, #2), this is too simple. The real reason it sank appears to be that it had fired a broadside and then executed a sharp turn, and the gun ports weren't closed after the broadside. So the turn heeled the ship too low, and water entered the ship through the open gun ports. Result: the Mary Rose headed to the bottom.

A few years ago the ship was raised, and is undergoing preservation, and will go on display in a museum. This is all described in the linked article, which talks about the relics that have been found and includes a short video. Link #3 is the Daily Mail article with more pictures.

Mary Rose relics to be unveiled

Mary Rose (Wikipedia)

Saved from the sea, the secret Tudor hoard of the Mary Rose on display for the first time

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