Mary Rose

Mary Rose is one of 4 ships we saw in our trip to Portsmouth. Mary Rose is in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which houses 9 museums, including a few ships. Mary Rose takes about 2-3 hours to visit, which is a longer time than the others because of how many artefacts are in the museum. The ship is so big that there are 3 levels and the walkways are going from one end to the other. There are lots and lots of things on display, with descriptions, so it takes a while even if you don’t read everything.

This is the museum from outside. I like it very much. Unlike the other ships, which are sturdy and exposed to the elements, the Mary Rose is completely indoors.

This is how much of her was rescued. I am amazed that all this timber stood in place for hundreds of years before being lifted up. There is a 4D film which shows how the ship was moved onto a frame before being lifted out of the water. It was an incredible achievement. King Charles, back then the Prince of Wales, was in a boat close to where the action was taking place. He was involved in the process so much that he even dived to see the ship while it was in the water.

The Mary Rose was commissioned soon after Henry VIII became king, in 1510. She was built at Portsmouth dockyard. A year later she was moved to London to be fitted and in 1512 she took her maidan voyage. As a purposely built warship, Mary Rose was rather unique. Before that, ships would be used for war or commerce depending on the needs, as guns were put on the ship or taken down when it was used for transport of goods.

This bronze bell from the Mary Rose is on display just before going into the chamber to see the ship. It was made in Antwerp and it is written on it that is was made in 1510. It was rang to let sailors know when their shifts would start and end.

This is a piece of the anti-boarding netting. It was supposed to make the ship safer as it would have stopped attackers from reaching the belly of the ship. When the ship sank this netting stopped the sailors from getting out. Only 35 of the 500-600 people on board survived.

As a warship, it had a lot of cannons. Some of them were rescued soon after she went down, but many remained on the bottom of the sea before being lifted in the 1980s.

The anchor and rope are impressive. The rope is original to the ship. Only some transparent acrylic was used to enhance the display, for example by adding a “blade” to the wooden end of a knife. But everything on display is original. There are no reproductions and no items from other ships.

As Mary Rose went down so fast, a lot of artefacts were preserved in their place. It is a fantastic historical record, showing exactly what Tudor surgeons and carpenters or gun masters would use. Even seeds were recovered.

This cauldron was used for cooking meals the for soldiers. It had a brick encasing.

All these were on board.

They found a lot of bodies. Some skeletons, including of the ship’s dog, and of the people on board are displayed in the museum. A few are highlighted, showing a face reconstruction based on the features of the skull. Also, a biological analysis was made of the bones and a whole story can be created on that. Not all were born in England, as the bones give indications on the type of diet someone had.

Besides cannons there were lots and lots of other types of weapons. Two replica bows are installed for people to test their strength. It was so hard to pull it back. The archers would fire an arrow every 5 seconds. It took years to learn how to do it and also to build the strength to be able to do it.

I like that this musical instrument, a fiddle, was included, such a wonderful artefact. There were a few more items for entertaining, including backgammon.