The Mary Rose.

I know this may look just like a jumble of old timber but this is the half of the Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s famous warship which sank in 1545 just off Portsmouth . This at the time was a formidable warship which they think sank due to the port holes on the lower gun deck being open when a sudden change of wind caused the ship to lurch thus taking in vast quantities of water and sinking very quickly. From a crew of 500 only 37 survived.

Although attempts were made to salvage her by Dutch Salvage men of the time these were unsuccessful and it wasn’t until the 1880 more attempts were made to bring more of her to the surface. By now however one side of the ship had gone and the half you see above was well and truly stuck in the clay mud which was ultimately what preserved this half so well. Skip to the 1970 when once again an attempt was made to salvage her and this time they succeeded. In 1982 she was raised from the sea bad in an huge metal frame . After the complex drying out conservation process taking some time she was put on display in Portsmouth where we went yesterday. Although it may not seem very much to see she is still a huge and impressive piece of engineering for the time . Goodness only knows how they managed to fashion the huge timbers and get them in place with such primitive tools! There are also huge numbers of artefact on display too some of which could have been made yesterday! Well worth a visit!

So we are now in our residence in Southsea and tomorrow is the wedding. The weather is set to stay fine but will be windy. Good job I am not wearing a hat,