Mary Rose
 The Mary Rose in the Anthony Roll (1546)
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The Mary Rose was a 16th century English warship . It was built in Portsmouth 1509–1511 . In 1536 it was modernized. In 1545, the Mary Rose sank in a naval battle against the French during the Italian War of 1542–1546 in the Solent . The well-preserved wreck was recovered in 1982 and is now on display at the historic shipyard in Portsmouth Harbor.
construction
In 1510 the construction of the Mary Rose began in Portsmouth , the launch took place in July 1511. She was towed to London , where the rigging , the deck and the armament were installed. The Mary Rose was also decorated with banners, flags and banners.
Building such a large warship was a project that required considerable amounts of oak . Since only a third of the ship has survived, the amount can only be roughly estimated. It is assumed that there are 600 large oaks. The large trees were very common in Europe and the British Isles in earlier centuries, but were already rare in the 16th century. Therefore the wood had to be procured from all over southern England. The largest trunks needed were comparable in size to those used in the largest cathedrals of the High Middle Ages. An unworked plank weighed more than 300 kg, and a girder on the main deck nearly three quarters of a ton.
Mission history
The Mary Rose was first used against the French fleet in 1512. The War of the Holy League (1511-1513) was already one of the Italian Wars , during which the Mary Rose was used several times against the French fleet . On July 1, 1522, the ship was instrumental in the occupation of the Breton port of Morlaix . In the interwar period, the ship was assigned to the reserve fleet for a long time , between 1514 and 1521 and from 1522 to 1545, with the ship being modernized in 1527 and 1536/37. After the fighting flared up again in 1543, England continued its fight against France despite the Peace of Crépy in 1544. Activated as a flagship of Vice Admiral Sir George Carew , Mary Rose was involved in the resulting naval battle in the Solent , a branch of the English Channel .
Downfall
A French fleet commanded by Claude d'Annebault was dispatched to the coast of Great Britain during the Italian Wars and arrived in the Solent in July 1545. Their goal was an invasion of the Isle of Wight and the destruction of an English fleet of which the Mary Rose belonged. The English fleet was trapped in Portsmouth harbor . On July 19, 1545 towards evening, the Mary Rose suddenly went down while attempting an attack on the French fleet. A large part of the crew was killed. Despite this English loss, d'Annebault gave up his attempt at invasion on July 22, 1545 and returned to France.
Reasons for doom
The reason for the downfall is controversial. Immediately after the disaster, and more recently has been mostly argued the ship was due to lack of stability flip side get and thus added water. There were around 400 - 500 people on the deck of the ship. In addition, the gun ports were open. Presumably, the list increased due to a turning maneuver , possibly reinforced by a gust . Due to the weight of the heavy cannons and the additional crew, the ship may have been deeper in the water than in previous years, so that the open gun ports would have been only one meter above the waterline - too low not to take in water when the list was listed. Errors in the ship's command were also discussed, possibly even a refusal of orders, which could have led to a poorly executed turning maneuver. Even a shoal a few hundred meters away could have led to a hastily executed maneuver; however, the sinking Mary Rose could also have been purposely steered to the shoal to prevent it from sinking completely.
Alternatively, a French cannon hit was discussed as the cause of the downfall. In contemporary reports only one French person took this view. Recently, however, Dominic Fontana, a geographer from the University of Portsmouth , put forward the thesis that the ship could have been hit close to the waterline and that the incoming water had caused the list and ultimately the sinking.
In the absence of witnesses and clues to the Mary Rose , the reason for the sinking cannot be finally clarified. What is known is that the ship sank very quickly.
Occupation and number of victims
The only crew members known by name were Vice Admiral Sir George Carew and Captain Roger Grenville. It is assumed that there were around 185 soldiers, 200 sailors and 30 gunners on board. There are different statements about losses. One source states that with a crew of around 500, there were only 25 to 30 survivors. A second eyewitness report speaks of 35 survivors among around 700 people on board. When the wreck was recovered, the remains of 179 people were found. The high number of casualties is probably due in part to the fact that nets were stretched over the upper decks of the Mary Rose in the middle and stern of the ship in order to fend off opponents who might come on board (boarding); those who fled from the interior of the ship on deck would have been trapped under the nets.
The museum
Shortly after the sinking, attempts had been made to raise the wreck without success . In the following centuries, knowledge of the wreck position was lost. In 1836, diving pioneers Charles Anthony Deane and John Deane rediscovered the wreck. After 1840, when the brothers stopped diving, the position was lost again. It was not until 1971 that the site was rediscovered.
Large parts of the wreck were recovered in 1982; Margaret Rule was the project manager for the recovery . On the evening of October 11th, the ship's remains of the upscale Mary Rose arrived in Portsmouth, where they have been preserved and exhibited ever since. In order to prevent the wood from drying out, the wreck has since been wrapped in an artificial mist made of freshwater and polyethylene glycol . Spraying of the wreck was stopped in April 2013 and the wood has now been dried in a hot air chamber for four years. The finds are an important source of material culture in the early modern period. A museum opened at the end of May 2013, displaying selected finds from the Mary Rose next to the wreck in a new building on the historic shipyard in Portsmouth Harbor. The museum shows a reconstruction of parts of the ship that is accessible to visitors to give an impression of the conditions on the ship, alongside figures that have been reconstructed by professionals on the basis of the human remains found.
Finds
Around 19,000 items were recovered from the wreck. The finds on longbows on this ship are particularly revealing . After the salvage of the wreck, a total of 137 longbows were found, which were probably made of Italian and Spanish yew . The longbows had a length of 187 to 211 centimeters. The average length was 198 centimeters. The draw weight of the individual bows varied greatly. The lightest bows had a draw weight of 100 pounds. A longbow had a draw weight of 185 pounds. It is believed that the arches were actually usable specimens.
The cabin on the main deck below the aft superstructure is attributed to the ship's doctor , who was also a barber . He was well trained and took care of the health and well-being of the team. A wooden box found intact contained more than 60 objects related to the medical task of the ship's doctor: wooden handles of a complete set of surgical instruments and razor blades (although none of the steel blades have survived), a copper syringe for the treatment of wound infections and gonorrhea, and even a handcrafted one skilfully made bottle with which weak patients could be fed. Other objects were found around the cabin; for example shaving bowls and combs. With this wide range of instruments and medicines, the ship's doctor was able to fix broken bones, perform amputations and cure acute injuries, treat a wide variety of diseases and provide the crew with a low standard of personal hygiene .
literature
- Margaret Rule : The Mary Rose. The Excavation and Raising of Henry VIII's Flagship. Revised 2nd edition. Conway Maritime Press, London 1983, ISBN 0-85177-289-7 .
- Alexander McKee: The Mary Rose. The greatest adventure in marine archeology. Zsolnay, Vienna et al. 1983, ISBN 3-552-03509-5 .
- Peter Marsden: Sealed by Time. The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose (= The Archeology of the Mary Rose. Vol. 1). The Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth 2003, ISBN 0-9544029-0-1 .
- Julie Gardiner, Michael J. Allen (Eds.): Before the mast. Life and death aboard the Mary Rose (= The Archeology of the Mary Rose. Vol. 4). The Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth 2005, ISBN 0-9544029-4-4 .
- Ann J. Stirland: The men of the Mary Rose. Raising the dead. New revised edition. Sutton, Stroud 2005, ISBN 0-7509-3915-X .
- Hildred, Alexandra: Weapons of warre: the armaments of the Mary Rose . Portsmouth: Mary Rose Trust, 2010.
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Peter Marsden: Sealed by Time. The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose. 2003, pp. 2-5.
- ^ Peter Marsden: Sealed by Time. The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose. 2003, p. 51.
- ↑ Damian Goodburn: Woodworking Aspects of the "Mary Rose". In: Peter Marsden (Ed.): Mary Rose - Your Noblest Shippe. Anatomy of a Tudor Warship (= Archeology of the Mary Rose. Vol. 2). The Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth 2009, ISBN 978-0-9544029-2-1 , pp. 66-80, here pp. 66-68, 71.
- ↑ maryrose.org: The Battle in the Solent and the loss of the Mary Rose ( Memento of 5 July 2010 at the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Mary Rose: A Tudor ship's secrets revealed BBC News May 30, 2013, accessed May 30, 2013
- ^ Peter Marsden: Sealed by Time. The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose. 2003, pp. 30-34; Margaret Rule: The Mary Rose. The Excavation and Raising of Henry VIII's Flagship. Revised 2nd edition. 1983, pp. 47-56.
- ↑ Mary Rose protective jets switched off for first time BBC News April 30, 2013, accessed May 30, 2013
- ↑ Mary Rose museum opens in Portsmouth at cost of £ 35m BBC News May 30, 2013, accessed May 30, 2013
- ↑ Hagen Seehase, Ralf Krekeler: The feathered death. The history of the English longbow in the wars of the Middle Ages. Hörnig, Ludwigshafen 2001, ISBN 3-9805877-6-2 . P. 216.
- ^ Jo Castle, John Kirkup, Brendan Derham, Jeremy Montagu, Robin Wood, John Hather: Septicemia, Scurvy and the Spanish Pox: Provisions for the Sickness and Injury at Sea. In: Julie Gardiner, Michael J. Allen (Eds.): Before the mast. Life and death aboard the Mary Rose. 2005, pp. 171-225.
Coordinates: 50 ° 47'59 " N , 1 ° 6'24" W.