The Mary Rose
Alan Turton opened the talk by noting that despite common belief the Mary Rose didn’t capsize and that the ship could have been recovered shortly after sinking.
The ship was described as the “flower of the Kings Navy” and was amongst the first to have gun ports. It remains a mystery as to the cause of the sinking, was a gun port left open when turning or was it something else?
It is alleged that bystanders on the shore could hear the men screaming as the ship sank. Many of the men would have been wearing padded jackets and armour and with most sailors thinking it was bad luck to learn to swim most had little hope of surviving.
The ship was rediscovered by Alex McKee and eventually in 1982 the ship was lifted and placed in a temporary ten, which lasted until 2011!
