Sinking of the Mary Rose (1545): Henry VIII's Lost Warship

The sinking of the Mary Rose took place on 19 July 1545, when Henry VIII’s veteran warship capsized in the Solent off Portsmouth while sailing out to fight an invading French fleet. Most of the roughly 400–500 men on board drowned, as the king watched from the shore. Raised in 1982, her hull and some 19,000 artefacts now form one of the richest records of Tudor life anywhere.

Background: Henry VIII’s navy

The Mary Rose was built at Portsmouth in 1510–1511, early in Henry VIII’s reign, probably named after the king’s sister Mary and the Tudor rose. She was a carrack, a large sailing ship with high castles at bow and stern, and was among the first English ships to carry heavy guns firing through gunports cut low in the hull.

She served as a flagship in wars against France in 1512–1514 and in the 1520s. In the 1530s she was rebuilt and given more heavy guns, growing to around 700 tons. By the 1540s she was an old but powerful ship in a navy Henry had greatly enlarged.

In 1544 Henry captured Boulogne. In revenge, Francis I of France assembled a large invasion fleet under Admiral Claude d’Annebault. Contemporary estimates of its size vary widely, from about 150 to more than 200 ships, including galleys from the Mediterranean, and it carried perhaps 30,000 men. Henry’s fleet of around 80 ships gathered at Portsmouth. Coastal forts such as Southsea Castle, completed in 1544 as part of Henry’s chain of artillery defences along the south coast, protected the harbour approaches.

What happened on 19 July 1545

The French fleet entered the Solent on 18 July and skirmished with the English. On 19 July, in calm weather, French galleys rowed forward to bombard the English ships, which could not manoeuvre without wind.

When a breeze rose in the afternoon, the English fleet moved out to engage. The Mary Rose, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir George Carew, fired a broadside and began to turn. As she turned she heeled over sharply, water poured in through her open lower gunports, and she sank within minutes in about 11–12 metres of water.

Anti-boarding nets stretched over the open decks trapped many men below. Only a few dozen survivors are recorded, often given as fewer than 35–40. Carew was among the dead. Many of the men who drowned were soldiers and archers who had been placed aboard for the fighting, rather than regular seamen. The battle itself was indecisive; the French landed briefly on the Isle of Wight and in Sussex but withdrew within weeks.

Why did she sink?

Several explanations, which are not mutually exclusive, have been proposed:

• Heeling and open gunports. The most widely accepted view is that a turn, perhaps with a gust of wind, tipped the ship far enough for the sea to enter the low gunports.
• Overloading. The ship carried many soldiers in addition to her crew, as well as heavy guns added over the years, which may have made her top-heavy.
• Poor discipline. A later account by Carew’s family reports that he shouted to another ship that his men were unruly and would not obey him.
• French gunfire. French sources claimed she was hit by their guns. Archaeologists have found no clear evidence of fatal damage, though it cannot be ruled out.

Salvage, rediscovery and raising

Attempts to raise the ship began within days, directed by Venetian salvage experts, but failed; some guns were recovered. In 1836 the pioneer divers John and Charles Deane found the wreck and brought up more guns before it was forgotten again.

In 1965 the journalist and amateur diver Alexander McKee began searching for the wreck, and in 1971 his team found exposed timbers. The Mary Rose Trust was founded in 1979, and the archaeologist Margaret Rule led a major excavation in which hundreds of volunteer divers took part.

On 11 October 1982 the hull, cradled in a steel frame, was lifted from the seabed. The event was broadcast live, and its audience is often estimated at around 60 million people worldwide. The Prince of Wales, the Trust’s president, had dived on the wreck himself.

What the wreck revealed

Because the hull lay on its side in silt, the starboard half and much of its contents were preserved. Some 19,000 objects were recovered, including bronze and iron guns, more than a hundred longbows and thousands of arrows, navigation instruments, medical kits, musical instruments, clothing, games and food.

Remains of at least 179 individuals have been studied. Analysis has shown the crew’s ages, injuries and diets, and suggested that some men came from southern Europe or North Africa. The skeleton of a dog, nicknamed Hatch, was also found.

Among the most striking finds were the guns themselves. The ship carried a mix of large cast-bronze muzzle-loaders, some decorated with the royal arms, and older wrought-iron breech-loaders, showing a navy in transition between two technologies. Personal possessions such as combs, purses, rosary beads, leather shoes and wooden bowls marked with owners’ initials give a rare glimpse of ordinary sailors’ lives.

The barber-surgeon’s cabin contained his wooden chest with instruments, ointment jars and medicines. Carpenters’ tools, the remains of the galley’s brick ovens and cauldrons, and stores of fish and meat bones show how a crew of hundreds was fed and the ship maintained at sea.

Conservation

Waterlogged oak shrinks and cracks if it dries out suddenly, so the hull needed decades of careful treatment. The hull was sprayed continuously with water and then, from 1994, with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a wax-like chemical that replaces water in the wood. Controlled air-drying followed. A purpose-built museum opened at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in 2013, and in 2016 the protective walls came down so visitors could see the hull directly.

Key people

• Henry VIII built up the navy, ordered the Mary Rose and watched her sink.
• Sir George Carew was appointed vice-admiral shortly before the battle and died with his ship.
• Claude d’Annebault, Admiral of France, commanded the invasion fleet.
• Alexander McKee led the search that found the wreck in 1971.
• Margaret Rule directed the excavation and raising as the Trust’s archaeological director.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1511, July: The Mary Rose is launched at Portsmouth and fitted out.
• 1512, 10 August: She fights at the Battle of Saint-Mathieu off Brittany.
• 1545, 18 July: The French invasion fleet enters the Solent.
• 1545, 19 July: The Mary Rose capsizes and sinks off Southsea.
• 1836, June: John and Charles Deane locate the wreck.
• 1971, May: Alexander McKee’s team finds the hull timbers.
• 1982, 11 October: The hull is raised.
• 2013, 31 May: The new Mary Rose Museum opens.
• 2016, July: The hull goes on full display after drying.

Why it matters

The Mary Rose is a time capsule of a single day in 1545, showing how a Tudor warship was built, armed and lived in. Her loss is part of the story of Henry VIII’s wars and of the rise of the English navy that later faced the Spanish Armada. Her raising was a landmark in underwater archaeology and ship conservation.