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| Geat battleship
- mary rose |
Until the reign of king Henry VIII of England (1509-47),
warships were mainly troop transports, which captured enemy ships
by closing and boarding. But Henry VIII ordered the building of
carrack-type warships armed with batteries of cannon, firing through
ports cut in the ship's sides, to break the resistance of enemy
ships by bombardment. His "great ships", Great Harry and
Mary Rose, were the first battleships. Unfortunately, Mary Rose's
armaments made her top-heavy, and she sank. The accidental sinking
of Mary Rose on July 19,1545 was a tragedy at the time, but a wonderful
gift to history. In 1982 the buried starboard half of Mary Rose
was raised along with thousands of weapons, tools, and pieces of
equipment, giving a clear picture of what an early sixteenth century
battleship was alike.
Originally built in 1509-11, Mary Rose – and Great Harry –
had been rebuilt in 1536-40 to carry more guns and troops. Guns
were added to her towering bow and stern castles to shatter enemy
attempts at boarding. Unfortunately, they also helped make the ship
dangerously top-heavy. Mary Rose carried 91 guns in all, from small
hand-held "hailshot" guns for use against enemy boarders
to heavy bronze and iron "bastards" and "culverins"
mounted on wheeled carriages. Added to her normal crew of 415 were
285 soldiers, including archers skilled in the use of the English
longbow. Some 139 longbows were recovered from Mary Rose , and 2,500
arrows. So were the instruments used by the ship's surgeon to treat
the sounded.
Today preserved at Portsmouth in a special museum, with all the
guns and other finds excavated from the site of her wreck, Mary
Rose is on public display along with Nelson's famous Victory (see
1650 To 1850), and the no less historic ironclad warship Warrior. |
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 The
deadweight of heavy guns and too many soldiers in the tall "castles"
made Mary Rose dangerously top-heavy; she rolled her lower gunports
under water, flooded, and sank like a stone. |
 
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| Helmeted
archer with longbow, and a leather spacer pierced to hold 24 arrows.
An archer's decorated leather bracer, to protect the left wrist
from the released bowstring. |
New technology
for a new era in war at sea: one of Mary Rose's 15 heavy bronze
guns, mounted on wheeled carriages. These handsome cannons were
among the first of their kind cast in England. |
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Gold "angel"
coin recovered from Mary Rose, more than a month's pay for a seaman.
Tudor timepiece: a pocket sundial. |
For navigation:
dividers and protractor. |
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Mary
Rose sank as she sailed out to do battle, with her surgeon preparing
to treat the wounded down below. Among the many amazing finds from
the Mary Rose's surgeon's chest were a bleeding bowl, flasks for
holding drugs, syringes, a saw - even a wooden mallet for knocking
out the patient before operating on him! The distinctive cap worn
by Mary Rose's surgeon - badge of the Guild of Barber – Surgeons
- was found and restored. |
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