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The Mary Rose

THE KING'S FAVOURITE WARSHIP

by Lynne Wigmore

Stern View ©The Mary Rose Trust

For over 30 years the Mary Rose was one of the largest ships in the English navy and, although one of the earliest examples of a purpose-built sailing warship, it is her sinking and eventual raising that has earned her place in history. Common belief is that she was named after Mary Tudor the sister of King Henry VIII, but it is also possible that the name celebrated the then King and Queen. Two ships were commissioned at the same time. Her sister ship, Peter Pomegranate, bearing the name of a saint and also the emblem of Queen Katherine of Aragon, whilst the name Mary Rose signifies not only the power of the Tudor dynasty through the symbol of the rose, but also that of the Virgin Mary who was known at the time as the ‘Mystic Rose’. Known as a 'carrack-type' warship, she was a short and not particularly fast vessel which had forecastles built high at the bow and stern. These decks 'before the mast' were used as accommodation for the large complement of marines on board; at that time, 'boarding' was believed to be the best way to defeat an enemy ship. Construction of the Mary Rose began on 29 January 1510 in Portsmouth. She was launched in July 1511 and towed to London where her rigging, decking and armaments were installed. Constructing a state-of-the-art warship of this size was a major undertaking, requiring vast quantities of high-quality material - primarily oak. Since only one third of the ship now remains, the total amount of timber needed can only be estimated at around 600 trees, mostly large oaks, requiring about 16 hectares (40 acres) of woodland. Lumber was brought in from all over southern England, with the largest timbers being the same size as those used in the roofs of the largest cathedrals of the Middle Ages. An unworked hull plank would have weighed over 300 kg (660 lb), and one of the main deck beams would have weighed close to three-quarters of a tonne. In July 1514, the Mary Rose, along with most ships in the king’s navy, was decommissioned in Deptford resulting in the dismantling of the masts and rigging, the removal of anchors and other such equipment, as well as the removal of the armaments of the ship. She briefly returned to service in June 1520 as Henry mobilized all his most prestigious ships to escort him to France for the meeting of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. As European political tension increased due to the English king’s break from the Church of Rome, Henry began reinforcing his warships and the Mary Rose underwent a refit. Extra gunports were added and the sides of the ship were strengthened to accommodate the extra weight. By the summer of 1539, the Mary Rose was anchored at Deptford, ready to defend the Thames.

In 1544, Henry had agreed to attack France together with Spanish Emperor Charles V, and although English forces captured Boulogne at great cost in September, England was left in the lurch after Charles brokered a separate peace. Less than a year later the French assembled a large fleet in the Seine estuary intending to land troops on English soil and on 19th July 1545, 128 French ships entered the Solent unopposed. Henry watched the action unfold from Southsea Castle. The lack of wind gave the French the advantage, their oared galleys able to advance while the large sailing ships were immobile. Towards the afternoon, however, the wind rose and Viscount Lisle, Admiral of the Fleet, led out his large ships, including the Mary Rose.

Early in the battle something went wrong. Whilst engaging the French galleys the Mary Rose suddenly leaned violently

over to her starboard side and water rushed in through the open gunports, leaving the crew powerless and scrambling for the safety of the upper deck as the ship began to sink rapidly. As she leaned over, equipment, ammunition and supplies shifted and became loose, adding to the general turmoil. The vast port side galley brick oven collapsed completely and the huge 360-litre copper cauldron was thrown onto the deck above. Heavy guns came free and slammed into the opposite side, impeding escape or crushing men beneath them. The ship went down in a matter of minutes. Of the nearly 500 men on board, no more than 35 survived. A French cavalry officer present at the battle stated that the Mary Rose had been sunk by French guns; although it was always accepted that the open gunports were to blame it is possible that a cannonball strike low in the hull would enable water to flood in, making the ship unstable and lead to her sinking. of bags under the hull was inflated with air to cushion the waterlogged wood. Finally, the whole package was placed on a barge and taken to the shore. Though eventually successful, the operation was close to foundering on two occasions; first when one of the supporting legs of the lifting frame bowed and had to be removed and later when a corner of the frame slipped more than a metre coming close to crushing part of the hull.

Although tragic, she was the only loss of the battle. The two fleets sat in a deadlock in the Solent, a situation that favoured the English who only needed to hold the port and who had supplies and reinforcements, and within days the French retreated. The public nature of this sinking, only about a mile offshore and in full view of the King, his army and most likely many onlookers will have heightened the tragedy. On Saturday 1st August, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk wrote that “I trust by Monday or Tuesday, at the furthest, that the Mary Rose shall be weighed up and saved”. Unfortunately, this confidence was misplaced as the masts broke during the raising attempt and all further attempts to raise her in the following weeks failed. Following the collapse of the exposed parts of the ship, the site was levelled with the seabed and gradually covered by layers of sediment, concealing most of the remaining structure. During the 16th century, a hard layer of compacted clay and crushed shells formed over the ship, stabilising the site and sealing the Tudor-era deposits. Further layers of soft silt covered the site during the 18th and 19th centuries, but frequent changes in the tidal patterns and currents in the Solent occasionally exposed some of the timbers, leading to its accidental rediscovery in 1836 and aiding in locating the wreck in 1971. In the spring of 1982, after three intense seasons of archaeological underwater work, preparations began for raising the ship. However, several problems arose early on with the custom-made lifting equipment and Royal Engineer divers had to be withdrawn due of the outbreak of the Falklands War. Even the design for lifting the hull had to be considerably altered as late as June. After the frame was properly attached to the hull, it was slowly jacked up on four legs to pull the ship off the seabed. The massive crane of the barge Tog Mor then moved the frame and hull, transferring them underwater to the specially designed cradle, which was padded with water-filled bags. On the morning of 11 October 1982, the final lift of the entire array began. It was watched by the team, Prince Charles and other spectators in boats around the site and many followed the live television coverage with interest. At 9:03 am, the first timbers of the Mary Rose broke the surface for the first time in 400 years. A second set Little is known of the identities of the men who served and died on the Mary Rose, only the name of Vice Admiral Sir George Carew is recorded. A study of the crew’s belongings and their bones suggests they were young, strong and dressed in some comfort and elegance. Isotope analysis of one of the archers, presumed to be an Archer Royal due to his elaborate wrist guard, has shown that he originated from North Africa. A micro society at sea, the wreck of the Mary Rose held a wealth of personal objects belonging to individual crew members. This included clothing, games, various items for recreation and objects related to the everyday tasks of personal hygiene, fishing, and sewing. All well preserved, these artifacts allow us a glimpse of medieval life and life in the Royal Navy. There were a number of professional objects, such as the tools of the onboard carpenters, or the medicinal instruments and flasks used by the surgeon. The master carpenter's chest contained an early backgammon set, a book, plates and tankard and a sundial suggesting he was relatively wealthy and isotope analysis shows he came from Spain supported by coins found in his cabin. Animal remains too have been found in the wreck, including the skeletons of a rat, a frog and an English Toy Terrier presumably brought aboard as a ratter. Nine barrels containing cattle bones conceivably from beef stored as ship's rations. The bones of pigs and fish, stored in baskets, have also been found. The Mary Rose is the only ship of her kind in existence anywhere in the world and with so many unique artifacts and human remains, she opens a window allowing us to glimpse Tudor life from the food they ate, their games and music to the diseases and injuries they suffered. With thanks to the Mary Rose Trust for their assistance with this article and for their kind permission to use the photographs.

Longbows ©The Mary Rose Trust

Taking Better Photographs ...

Discipline

by Steve Marshall

Please do not get excited. If you had hoped for photographs of dominatrices raising their whips to handcuffed Conservative MPs – even if some of those MPs deserved to be in handcuffs – I am afraid you are going to be disappointed. This article is about different sorts of discipline.

Prime rather than Zoom

Most cameras come with a zoom or telephoto lens where you can change from close up to distance at the turn of a dial. Mobile phones zoom in with a stretch of the fingers. Prime lenses are fixed and do not allow you to zoom in. If you want a closer image with a prime lens then you have to walk.

Prime lenses have no moving parts which means the images they produce are very sharp. And no zoom means you have to do the moving and that changes your photography.

Set your lens to 50mm – usually marked at the top of the lens with numbers running 35, 50, 70. Take a piece of masking tape and place it over the fixed and mobile part of the lens so you cannot zoom. Now go and take a set of photographs – but you cannot zoom. It may feel strange at first but it will alter how you use your camera. Try it at different times and places. Eventually you can give up the masking tape. Sometimes zooming in is right and sometimes moving is important. Go and find out.

Going Retro

My thanks to Steve Morton for this. In the days of film cameras there were limits to what you could change. You could not take a lot of shots because film, developing and printing were expensive. Go somewhere you might usually take lots of photographs and limit yourself to 36, 24 or even 12 pictures. Now you need to put more effort into getting each picture ‘right first time’.

Set the ISO to your chosen value. The most popular films were usually ISO 100, 200 or 400. You cannot change this value, even if that makes some pictures impossible. You can go further provided you have an eyepiece by turning off the viewing screen. So no checking the picture, no trying again.

And you could wait three days before downloading and looking at them.

The key here is the number limit. It may frustrate when you have run out but it will make you think about each shot.

Learn to Read

We think we can read but most of us do not read our camera manuals. Because they tell you how to do things but not why. They assume you know how to use cameras so tell you how this one operates.

Download the electronic manual –it can be searched.

Look through the contents and identify the things you know. Talking with other photographers is often the best way to find out what you do not know. For example: if you have always been a point and press photographer, conversation may help you learn that aperture priority allows you to blur the background while keeping your main subject in focus. Reading the section on aperture priority should reinforce your understanding of what it does and tell you how to set it on your camera.

Your camera probably has a dial for aperture priority, shutter priority, portrait, landscape, etc. The manual can help you use these. One step at a time. Most camera controls cover a range. Aperture has low and high values such as F4 through to F22. Try the same photographs with both extremes. Download them onto a computer with a much bigger screen than the camera and see the differences. Now you can choose how your picture will appear.

Your Camera Always Lies

I often hear people proudly announcing that their pictures are unedited and straight out of the camera. When I collected my film photographs from Boots they had not been edited. Or so I thought. I had no idea that their machinery would almost always adjust my efforts. Cameras lose some colour and some contrast in most images. Boots put this back and never told me.

Now I have a fancy digital camera there is no-one to do this for me.

You do not have to become a Photoshop expert. There are many free editors you can download. Our group uses FastStone. One drawback is it only works in Windows. But there are others.

Choose one and try adding a little contrast and a little colour saturation. In FastStone open a photograph, move the cursor left and select either Adjust Lighting or Adjust Colours. Change contrast or saturation and see what it does to your images.

If you are interested in meeting up with some fellow life-long photographic learners please get in touch on

stevemarshall128@gmail.com