The Mary Rose

Henry VIII's warship recovered from the Solent

The Mary Rose is one of the most important archaeological finds in British history. Built between 1509 and 1511 for Henry VIII, she was one of the first ships in the English fleet designed to carry heavy guns and served as the flagship on several occasions during her 34-year career. She sank during the Battle of the Solent on 19 July 1545 while engaging a French invasion fleet, going down within sight of the king himself at Southsea Castle. The precise cause of the sinking remains debated, but it appears the ship heeled over sharply while turning and took in water through her open gun ports.

The wreck lay on the seabed of the Solent for over four centuries, gradually buried in sediment that preserved the starboard side of the hull and thousands of artefacts. The site was identified in 1971, and a decade of painstaking underwater excavation followed. On 11 October 1982, the surviving hull section was raised in a specially designed cradle, watched by a worldwide television audience.

The Mary Rose was brought to the Historic Dockyard for conservation, a process that took over 30 years. The waterlogged timbers were treated with polyethylene glycol to replace the water in the wood and prevent cracking. A new purpose-built museum opened in 2013, displaying the ship and over 19,000 recovered artefacts.

The artefacts provide an extraordinarily vivid picture of Tudor life. Weapons, navigation instruments, surgical tools, personal belongings, musical instruments, clothing, dice, nit combs and the remains of the crew and the ship's dog are all displayed. The museum is arranged so that the artefacts are shown in context on the opposite side of the gallery from the corresponding section of the hull, creating a remarkably immersive experience.