The Mary Rose

Recently, I visited the Mary rose museum in Portsmouth.

The Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s flagship. It was the first ship that was made under Henry’s rule, many people have speculated it was named after his sister but in actual fact it was named after Saint Mary and the Tudor Rose. It required about 600 oak and elm trees to build which combined with the building of the rest of the fleet virtually destroyed most of the forests of England.

The Mary Rose sank during the battle of the Solent, which was one of the two ‘proper’ naval battles that was fought under the reign of Henry VIII. It is unclear why, but there are many theories, such as the gun ports being left open in a manoeuvre, the gun ports being too close to the water, and a gust of wind hitting the ship while it did a turning manoeuvre. Regardless of which theory was correct when It sunk it claimed the lives of around 400 people with it, which was most of the crew. The reason behind such a high death rate was that there was anti boarding netting surrounding the ship, which trapped the sailors stopping them escaping the sinking ship. The Mary Rose was partially buried in the seabed. This meant that the submerged part of the wreck was protected from wood eating creatures preserving it to this day. The wreck was found in 1982, raised, and now lies in the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth.

I found the trip very informative. I very much enjoyed learning about how life was like on a Tudor ship. I was very impressed how the museum showed and explained the findings of where the skeletons they found had come from which scientists discovered using the strontium value of the skeletons and matching it to areas around the world. The also were able to discover what professions each individual had by looking at the bones, for example professions like archery had an impact on the shoulder bones creating fused shoulder blades. I found that this was presented in a very interesting and clear way. I thought the view of the wreck itself to be very good, especially as it was supplemented by relevant artefacts in the viewing tunnel.

However, while the overall experience is outstanding, I feel that some improvement that can be made with the museum. When you enter the museum, you are required to watch video which describes the Mary Rose and its history. This video gives us information about the Mary Rose’s history and context on the battle of the Solent. While this is great, I feel this information could be better placed elsewhere. I found the video to be a little too long, and so it lost the attention of the viewers. I also feel that the museum layout was very confusing, as it had two parts on each floor. I found the layout of the display cabinets meant that it was hard to see all the brilliant content they have up to offer.

Overall, I found the Mary Rose Museum to be a solid 4/5, as it has very informative displays, a brilliant view of the wreck and a great café, however there are some improvements still to be made, such as making a clear route around the museum to make sure information is not missed, and incorporate the information in the video shown at entry into the museum.