July 18, 1545, the French Fleet under the command of Admiral Claude d'Annebault arrived off the Isle of Wight with over 200 ships and 30,000 men ready for an invasion of Portsmouth. The English Fleet raised anchor and sailed out to meet the enemy, among the ship's was the HMS Mary Rose. Said to be King Henry VIII's favorite ship, the Mary Rose had an inexperienced and some say incompetent crew. In fact Vice-Admiral Sir George Carew's last known words were; "I have the sort of knaves I cannot rule"

The next morning July 19, 1545, the ship's engaged each other. The story of The Mary Rose from here is a short and tragic one. For unknown reasons, she began to list allowing water to enter her open gun ports. With tons of water pouring in the Mary Rose sank quickly taking about 765 soldiers and sailors with her, only 35 survived.

The cause of the sinking has been a mystery and will never really be known but, one theory is they put to much sail out just before a strong wind blew in. There had not been much wind up until that time and the extra sail was added to take advantage of what wind they did have. If this was the case the loss was just one of bad timing.

The wreck was located in the 1960's and was raised in 1982, over four hundred years after she sank. She is now on display at the Portsmouth Dockyard near where she was built.

© 2006 Michael W. Pocock
MaritimeQuest.com

Portrait of the HMS Mary Rose.