The Mary Rose was a large warship in the Tudor Navy of King Henry VIII. She was the second most powerful ship in King Henry VIII’s fleet and a favourite of the king. For three decades she participated in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany, until her sinking in 1545 during the Battle of the Solent off the south coast of England. Almost all of the Mary Rose crew, up to 500 men, drowned.
Several attempts were made to salvage the sunken ship soon after it sank. However, the ship had settled deep into the soft muddy seabed of the Solent where it would remain for the next four hundred years. It was eventually raised in 1982 in one of the most ambitious and costly maritime salvage operations ever undertaken. The excavation and raising of the Mary Rose was a milestone in the field of maritime archaeology, comparable in complexity and cost to the raising of the 17th-century Swedish warship Vasa in 1961.
The Mary Rose by Geoff Hunt. Image credit: Mary Rose Trust
The Ship
The Mary Rose was constructed in Portsmouth between 1510 and 1511 before being towed to London to be outfitted with rigging, decking, and armaments. Although her exact dimensions remain uncertain, she was considered one of the largest ships in the English Navy at the time. Building a warship of this scale was a massive undertaking, requiring vast amounts of high-quality materials. It is estimated that approximately 600 large oak trees were felled to provide the timber necessary for her construction.
The Mary Rose was built during a period of significant transition in naval warfare. For centuries, sea battles resembled land combat, with soldiers wielding melee weapons and bows on wooden ships serving as floating battle platforms. The advent of firearms marked a turning point, as ships began to carry small cannons capable of targeting enemy crews. Over time, the use of larger cannons became more common, introducing the capability to sink opposing ships by blasting holes in their hulls, particularly near or below the waterline.
The Mary Rose as depicted in the Anthony Roll, circa 1540s. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
These heavier cannons could not be placed in the ship’s forecastles without destabilizing the vessel, so they were installed lower in the hull. This required the addition of small openings, known as gun ports, which could be opened or closed as needed. Positioned close to the waterline, these gun ports made ships vulnerable to flooding—a hazard that ultimately led to the sinking of the Mary Rose. Similarly, the 17th-century Swedish warship Vasa sank due to flooding through its gun ports.
This vulnerability was not unique to the Mary Rose or the Vasa. During the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, two French ships of the line, Thésée and Superbe, also foundered because of water entering through their gun ports. Likewise, the French ship Vengeur du Peuple likely sank during the American Revolutionary War for similar reasons, with seawater flooding through damaged gun port lids.
The Mary Rose’s broadside, equipped with a formidable battery of cannons, made her ideally suited for close-quarters combat. Her strategy involved maneuvering alongside enemy ships, unleashing devastating volleys to blast holes in their hulls, and preparing for boarding. Soldiers aboard the Mary Rose, supported by a barrage of arrows, darts, and quicklime, would then engage in hand-to-hand combat to capture the opposing vessel.
The Mary Rose first saw battle in 1512, in a joint naval operation with the Spanish against the French. With her superior armaments, the Mary Rose battered the French ships with heavy gunfire and forced them to retreat. The skirmish saw the loss of 27 French ships, in addition to the capture of five more by the English. However, a sudden storm in the North Atlantic forced the fleet back to Dartmouth in Devon.
From 1522 to 1545, the Mary Rose was placed in reserve and underwent extensive modifications that transformed her into a 700-ton prototype galleon. These upgrades significantly enhanced her firepower and durability, enabling her to deliver devastating blows to enemy ships from greater distances. Her towering castles were cut down to improve stability, her decks were reinforced, and she was outfitted with an impressive arsenal, including 15 large bronze cannons, 24 wrought-iron carriage guns, and 52 smaller anti-personnel weapons.
The Sinking
By 1545, England and France were once again at war. King Francis I of France assembled a massive fleet of approximately 200 vessels and sailed across the Channel with the intent of landing troops on English soil. The English, with a considerably smaller fleet of around 80 ships, including the flagship Mary Rose, were at a disadvantage. Lacking heavy galleys capable of matching the manoeuvrability of the French ships, the English fleet retreated into the safety of Portsmouth Harbour. However, the wind unexpectedly dropped, allowing four French galleys to row into position and catch the English fleet off guard.
To defend the English coast, two of the largest ships in the fleet, the Henry Grace à Dieu and the Mary Rose, were sent to confront the faster, more agile French galleys. According to eyewitness accounts, the Mary Rose fired a broadside at the enemy and began to turn to bring the guns on her opposite side into action. During this manoeuvre, a sudden gust of wind caused the ship to heel sharply. Water poured in through her open gun ports, and she rapidly capsized.
The Sinking of the Mary Rose by Geoff Hunt. Image credit: Mary Rose Trust
The Mary Rose sank with tragic speed, taking nearly her entire crew—between 400 and 500 men—to the seabed. Only about two dozen sailors managed to escape the sinking vessel.
Contemporary accounts attribute the sinking of the Mary Rose to excessive weight, which caused her to sit dangerously low in the water. With her gun ports open, the overladen ship heeled during a sharp turn, allowing water to flood the decks and causing her to sink. Modern historians largely agree, noting that the ship became increasingly unstable after her 1536 refit. The addition of heavy cannons significantly increased her draught, reducing the clearance between the waterline and the gun ports on the main deck to less than one metre, leaving her highly vulnerable to flooding.
English historian John Hooker supported this explanation but added that insubordination among the crew also contributed to the disaster. According to Hooker, Vice-Admiral George Carew, who commanded the Mary Rose, observed signs of instability as soon as her sails were raised. Historian Richard Barker further suggested that the crew may have recognized the ship’s precarious condition and refused to follow orders, possibly fearing the inevitable.
Also read:
The Sinking of Steamboat Arabia And its Discovery in a Cornfield
The Wreck of Swedish Warship Mars
Recovery
The first salvage attempt was made just days after the Mary Rose sank. At the time, the standard method for raising ships in shallow waters involved passing cables beneath the hull, which would then be pulled taut by two larger vessels during low tide. As the tide rose, the ships would lift the wreck, allowing it to be towed to shallower water. This process would be repeated until the entire vessel was raised. Charles Brandon, the king's brother-in-law and overseer of the salvage effort, was so confident of success that he reassured the king that the ship would be raised “by Monday or Tuesday, at the furthest.”
However, his optimism was misplaced. The Mary Rose had sunk deep into the clay of the seabed, making it nearly impossible to pass cables under her hull. The initial salvage effort failed, but hope lingered for some time. Attempts to retrieve the ship continued sporadically until 1546, when the effort was officially abandoned, and the Mary Rose was left to rest beneath the waves.
The wreck of Mary Rose, now at the Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth, England. Photo credit: Mary Rose Trust
In 1836, the wreck of the Mary Rose was rediscovered by fishermen whose nets became entangled with timbers on the seabed. Upon investigation, the remains were identified as those of the long-lost warship. Later that year, two professional divers, John Deane and William Edwards, descended to the wreck and recovered a number of artifacts. Unfortunately, Deane employed destructive techniques to access the ship’s interior, including the use of explosives to blast through the hull, causing further damage to the already fragile wreck.
The wreck of the Mary Rose was not raised until 1982, following more than a decade of meticulous planning and preparatory work. The operation was one of the most ambitious archaeological undertakings of its time and required far greater delicacy than the raising of the Swedish ship Vasa two decades earlier. Unlike the Vasa, whose hull was fully intact and rested upright on the seabed, the Mary Rose was deeply embedded in mud, with only about one-third of her hull surviving.
Numerous ideas for salvaging the wreck were considered and ultimately rejected. These included constructing a cofferdam around the site, filling the ship with buoyant materials, and even freezing the seabed by pumping in brine to lift the hull. In the end, the chosen method combined careful engineering with advanced technology.
The hull was first reinforced with steel braces and frames to prevent further damage during the operation. Cables were then carefully attached to the structure by drilling holes through the surviving timbers. Once secured, the ship was gently lifted from the seabed and placed on a steel cradle underwater. This cradle, supporting the fragile hull, was then raised to the surface in a controlled and painstaking process.
The wreck of the Mary Rose being raised out of water. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Today, the remains of the Mary Rose are preserved at the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, alongside over 26,000 artifacts that offer an extraordinary window into Tudor life. The ship's weaponry—including cast iron and bronze cannons, longbows, gunpowder handguns, swords, daggers, and pikes—provides invaluable insights into 16th-century military technology and naval warfare. Equally captivating are the personal belongings of the crew, such as clothing, recreational items, spiritual artifacts, and musical instruments, which paint a vivid picture of daily life aboard a Tudor warship.
Among the most intriguing discoveries is the barber-surgeon’s chest, which contained more than 60 objects related to medical practice. These include razors, a copper syringe, and a carefully crafted feeding bottle, designed to nourish incapacitated patients.
The excavation also uncovered a wealth of skeletal remains, not only of the crew but also of the ship's resident animals. The skeletons of a rat, a frog, and the ship's dog, named Hatch, were recovered, offering further clues about life on the Mary Rose. Together, these artefacts and remains bring to life the stories of those who served aboard this iconic vessel.
Recommended reading:
# Julie Gardiner, Before the Mast: Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose
# Peter Marsden, 1545: Who Sank the Mary Rose?
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